Entangled
by Nickkay
Summary: It is now after the war. Everyone is going on with their lives. Hermoine is in a field of work she never imagined she would be, and although poor she is happy. Draco, being used to wealth his entire life, continues to be filthy rich as the CEO of his company. As fate brings them together and magic works in an unthinkable way, they realise that perhaps their hearts need each other.
1. Chapter 1

It was now ten years after the war.

The war had changed the wizarding world; it had changed all of them. The superiority of blood was no longer a discriminating factor; just look at the three heroes who had saved them all. A half blood brought up by muggles, a pureblood deemed by other purebloods as a blood traitor, and a muggleborn. Wizards no longer cared about maintaining the purity of their bloodline, especially since most of the Death Eaters had been purebloods themselves. For some of the Hogwarts students, their lives had continued the path they always knew it would take since their naïve school years, but for others, it was completely different.

Hermione had always thought that she would work in the Ministry Of Magic, or perhaps run an organization in support of S.P.E.W. Never in her entire life had she imagined that she would be doing _this._

"Get down!" Somebody beside her shouted.

Wincing, Hermione hurriedly ducked to avoid getting her head burned off by the furious Hungarian Horntail. Yes, here she was running around trying to capture a rogue dragon, something she would have scoffed at if someone told her ten years ago that that would be her career.

Somehow life had taken an unusual twist and Hermione found herself working with Magical Creatures, in an independent organization that did everything related to Magical Creatures, from capturing to breeding them and having an attraction which muggles called the Zoo.

"Alright, got her! Everyone get ready to head out!" Her boss shouted in the far distance.

Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Hermione finally let her guard down. While normally she loved working with dragons, this one had a terrible habit of spewing fire at anything it laid its sights on.

Hermione had chosen this path of interacting with Magical Creatures because she developed a love for them after the war. While she had always found them interesting, as she did with every subject, she never thought that her future would have anything to do with them and hence never tried very hard in her Care of Magical Creatures class. However, the turning point came after Harry had defeated Lord Voldermort, when everyone was rejoicing or mourning their loved ones, when the Hogwarts grounds had been ablaze and scarred with hexes, she noticed a few animals tentatively coming out of the Forbidden Forest. They were small and looked like rabbits, and for once in her life, Hermione did not know what she was looking at. The few rabbit-like creatures hopped out slowly towards the injured and pointed their ears towards the wounds, shocking Hermione when she saw the wounds starting to heal. From then on, she had fallen in love with Magical Creatures and realized that there was so much more to them than met the eye.

Naturally, since her job was such a rough one, she was the only female in her team. Including her boss, there were about ten of them who were qualified to be on site and actually working with the creatures. The rest were either rookie recruits or did boring paperwork. It had not been easy for her to make it into the team; she had to train so hard that she thought she might finally understand how her schoolmates felt when they complained about studying for examinations. However, due to her training, her body had become lean and tan, with more strength in her than met the eye. She had also cut her famous bushy hair because it had gotten way too unmanageable.

Her teammates were all older than her and none of them came from Hogwarts, which may have been partly due to the fear that Hagrid's teaching of Care of Magical Creatures had ingrained in them. She loved her job, she really did. The only downside was that the pay was… Meager. In fact, she was probably surviving based on passion of her job. She barely made do, and had hardly any excess to save. Still, she never thought about changing jobs because nothing else would ever feel as right as what she was doing now.

"Hermione! What are you doing! Come down here now, the portkey's about to leave any moment!" Her boss, George, shouted.

Blushing, Hermione realized that she had been staring at the dragon absentmindedly and ran over to where her colleagues were standing. Her team was like family to her since she spent so much time with them and away from her parents. Harry and Ron were extremely busy Auror Partners, always rushing to get something done. Everyone wanted to hire them. It wasn't that they chose to neglect her, it was just that time had forced them to do so. Luckily, she still had Ginny. Ginny was her last connection to Hogwarts, something she was afraid of losing now that Harry and Ron were hardly there.

Back at their headquarters, everyone worked to put the Hungarian Horntail into the dragon house with the rest of the dragons. Even sedated, this Hungarian Horntail could put up a good fight.

"Alright everyone! Gather round! Good work today, have a good night's rest because tomorrow we're going to be starting on a new project, one that will bring in more revenue," George announced.

At the word 'revenue', everyone's ears picked up as they listened more attentively to their new project. Too much money never hurt anyone, after all.

George continued, "There's this big shot company, Malfoy Enterprises, which wants to collect Yeti fur, I have no idea why. Anyway, we need to prepare for this trip because Yetis are in mountains and physical fitness has to be top notch if you don't want to die. We'll be heading to the mountains in a month's time, so in between now and then, physical training will be our top priority, while we take on other smaller jobs that do not require much manpower. This yeti one will bring in a lot more money for us, so everyone must ensure that it is a success!"

Hermione's heart sank. Malfoy Enterprises as in the one that belonged to Draco Malfoy? That exact same one? She felt a sense of dread as she realized what she must look like to him now. The way he had taunted her about being a Mudblood and having two oversized front teeth would transform into taunts about what she had become in her life. He would never understand the joy she felt when she worked; all he would see is dirt, sweat, grime, and poverty. She was certain he would make jabs about her fincancial position, the main sore point in her life. There was no way she would be happy working with him and she briefly contemplated pulling out of this job. But the words "bring in more revenue" rang in her head again and she sighed. There was no way out of this one.

* * *

Draco walked moodily to his office as he threw his file down. The meeting had not gone the way he wanted. They were supposed to agree to an 80-20 profit split, not argue and whine for a 70-30 split until he relented because of the pounding headache they had given him.

He collapsed onto his plush couch and took out his cell phone. The wizarding world had realized how much more efficient it was to use phones instead of owls just to communicate. Owls were now used for packages or important documents which could not be sent using the cell phone. This was the only point that Draco would concede that muggles had done better than wizards. Although discrimination based on blood was now frowned upon, that didn't stop Draco from having blood purist views. He kept them to himself of course, but he still looked down on Muggleborns. They were an abomination and should not be allowed to mix with true wizards.

The office phone on his desk started to ring and he frowned as he shouted to his secretary, "I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Tell them to call another day. Say I'm at my grandmother's funeral or something."

"But sir, this is from The Magical Creatures company and you said to always forward their calls to you," his secretary replied timidly.

He had forgotten about that. He needed them for his next big project and had yet to finalize all the details. For a moment he was tempted to yell at his secretary and ask whether she was deaf when he said he didn't want to talk to anyone but instead sighed as he picked up the call, "Hello? This is Draco Malfoy."

"Ah yes, Mr Malfoy, I'm George from The Magical Creatures company. I'm just calling to confirm the details of our trip to the Switzerland Matterhorn in a month for the yeti fur, the expenses will be paid by your company, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to come along? We are currently doing our muggle hotel bookings and we need to tell them how many people are coming. You can just stay in the hotel while we are at the mountains, of course."

Draco fought to keep his temper in check as he said through gritted teeth, "I am the CEO of this company, and you are asking me whether I want to go to some mountain with you while you catch yetis? Does that even make sense? If I were to go there myself why would I even need to pay you to do it? I assure you I am sufficiently busy with my work and am not interested at all in coming with all of you manual laborers to stay at a _muggle_ hotel."

There was a stunned silence at the other end, followed by a cool response, "I see. Well for your information, some of our employers happen to like coming along either to see what we do or just for some respite from work. We will contact you once we have completed the job. Have a good day." George hung up.

Draco was shocked. Nobody talked to him like that. Well except maybe his mother. But no one else had the nerve. He was THE Draco Malfoy for goodness sake. That man should be bowing down in gratitude. Perhaps it was time for him to make a trip down to that company to put that man in his place, and then pull his project out and hire another company that dealt with magical creatures.

Fuming, he stomped out of his extravagant office and almost walked into his vice CEO, Blaise Zabini. Blaise had changed drastically after the war. Where he was once cold and indifferent to most around him, he had now become somewhat of a playboy, with cockiness that had once been stuck up arrogance. He had a way with women, perhaps having learnt that charm from his mother as she was a famously beautiful witch who had been widowed seventimes over and each husband's death had occurred under suspicious circumstances, leaving the already wealthy Ms. Zabini and her son richer.

"Woah, what's wrong with your face? It doesn't look as happy as the CEO of one of the biggest companies should be," Blaise teased.

"Out of my way Blaise, I'm not in the mood to put up with you now," Draco scowled.

Blaise put his hands up and winked, "Alright don't do anything to me that you might regret. I am the vice CEO after all, anything that happens to me will affect your company's stocks, you know?"

Draco growled as he pushed his friend aside. He and Blaise had started this company together but Malfoy had funded it initially with his family's money and hence Blaise insisted that he take the position of vice CEO instead of co-CEO. Sometimes Draco preferred it when Blaise was his old self in school, all moody and distant. At least he wasn't as annoying as he could be now.

* * *

The next day when Draco woke he felt like he had forgotten something. There was a nagging feeling. He thought for a moment, today was Tuesday, which meant that it was his off day. Draco only went to work twice a week, as he did not see the need to go as many days as his employees. He was more capable than all of them put together and the brains of the company did not need to go to an office just to think. Besides, he hired so many other people to run the company just so that he need not go in everyday.

And then it hit him. He was supposed to go down to that company and meet that impertinent George. Just thinking about the conversation made him angry all over again. After getting over his initial shock, that phone call had ruined any chance of him being reasonably happy for the rest of the day. Yes, he definitely had to use his Malfoy power to intimidate that man. It made him feel good thinking about how that George would beg for forgiveness once Draco was done with him.

* * *

Draco frowned as he looked at the building before him. He was sure that he had apparated to the right place, but he was had expected… More. The Magical Creatures was supposed to be one of the better magical creatures companies there were, but all that stood before him was just a dilapidated looking building. He had heard they had a dragon house and a viewing gallery for magical creatures but he didn't see anything.

Slightly perplexed, he walked into the building and saw a balding, boring looking man at the reception. This did not look like any outdoors sporting company, much less one that dealt with magical creatures.

Draco cleared his throat and looked down at the man as he sniffed in disdain, "Is this The Magical Creatures?"

The man didn't look up from his paperwork as he mumbled, "Yes, how can I help you?"

Draco stared at the man as he said sarcastically, "The service here is wonderful. I wonder what I'm paying for. Where is George?"

At that, the man looked up with an annoyed expression, before his eyes widened in recognition and jumped to his feet. "I'm so sorry Mr Malfoy, the paperwork volume now is increasing _exponentially _and I didn't mean to be rude at all! George is outside working with the creatures; please wait for a moment while I get him."

Draco looked at his surroundings and saw a dingy looking couch which would probably lower the value of his pants should he sit there. The walls were grey and the paint was chipped. So far nothing he had seen was remotely acceptable, and he couldn't wait to get out of here.

"No, I want to go outside and see what else this place has to offer that can possibly redeem this disgusting building," Draco said.

The man stammered, "That's not advisable Mr Malfoy, the creatures outside might attack you and you do not know how to deal with them. Some are quite vicious."

Draco threw him a scathing look and replied, "Are you telling me what to do? No? Fantastic, at least you know what's good for you."

And without a second glance at the man, Draco walked out of the only door he saw, presuming that led to where the magical creatures were. He was right, and the sight that greeted him blew him away.

It was land that seemed to stretch on endlessly, and Magical Creatures were roaming around freely, nibbling on grass patches or grazing by the lake. There were certain creatures battling with one another, while others were taking care of their young. It was a mess of creatures, yet there was an unspoken order to it, in the way the animals moved and where they resided.

Draco walked along the pathway, looking at the creatures around him. Some stared at him while there were others who completely ignored him. Draco felt his heart pound, whether from fear of adrenaline he wasn't sure, but he knew that this was one of the most remarkable sights he had ever seen. All thoughts of finding George had disappeared from his mind.

As he turned a corner he saw a humongous structure, it towered over everything and it was massive. Suddenly, a jet of fire shot out and Draco nearly jumped out of his skin.

"This must be the dragon house!" he thought. Feeling excitement bubbling up within him, he hurried towards the structure. Draco Malfoy never ran; he felt it was undignified for him to have to run towards anything, everything waited for him and nothing was worth him having to run to it.

Nearing the dragon house, he caught sight of someone inside the enclosure. She sported a pixie cut, and had nice long tan legs. This woman was laughing as she played with a dragon and slowly climbed on to its back, starting from its feet. She moved with the agility of an athlete and grace of a dancer, looking as though it was the most natural thing in the world to swing on to a dragon's back. Draco continued watching her, enthralled. She just sat on the dragon's back, talking to the dragon. The dragon looked tired as it put its head down and seemed content just listening to her. Draco was too far away to see her face but he bet she was beautiful.

When she had had enough fun, she climbed down and patted the dragon before exiting and enclosure and walking in Draco's direction. Picking up a few pails, she looked at the ground and smiled to herself. Draco's heart started to beat faster, his legs unable to move as she walked towards him.

She looked up and their eyes met.

Draco's heart stopped beating for a moment, with only one thought running through his brilliant mind:

It can't be.

* * *

**Hi everyone! This is the first story I've ever written, so please give me feedback as to how I can improve! Don't be nice, say whatever you want. But please don't tell me how you want the story to go, where's the fun in that if you know story already? :p Haha and as every author asks, please review! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! Initially I didn't intend to update so quickly, but because of all the lovely reviews I decided to update it soon! Thank you everyone for the reviews! Many hearts for all of you! Keep it up! ^^ Hope you like this chapter!**

**Guah Guah: Heyo! Oh no, which part were you confused about? **

Hermione stared at the blond man in front her, her heart plummeting to the ground in dismay and shock. He looked different, somehow. Physically he had grown slightly taller and his shoulders looked broader. Even in his loose fitting suit, she could see that he was fit and she was willing to bet that if he took that shirt off, she would have to shackle herself to the ground in order to prevent herself from touching him. Yet, it was more than just the physical aspects which had altered his appearance. Perhaps it was the fact that he did not have to bear the burden of being a Death Eater anymore, perhaps it was the sophisticated clothes he now wore, perhaps it was because the look he wore on his face now was not the same as it had been back then. The cruelty in his eyes had disappeared, and while he still had that same arrogant look, it was not mixed with malice anymore.

She desperately tried to get her brain and mouth to start working, but all bodily functions had temporarily left her. She was still trying to accept how her body perceived Draco Malfoy now. A hot Malfoy went against everything she had ever known and it was causing her brain to malfunction severely. It needed to reboot. Before she could formulate any words, Draco smirked and said, " Well well, look who it is. Never thought I'd see you here Granger, especially in this sort of place."

Hermione blushed and replied, "What are you doing here Malfoy?"

Draco thought for a moment. He didn't really want to see that George guy anymore, instead he would rather spend more time getting to know this attractive female in front of him, never mind that it was Granger. The primal need to not let the human species die out had taken over all rationality.

"I just came to take a look at this place since I'm going to be hiring The Magical Creatures. Where is everybody anyway?"

"Well if you're done looking you can leave now. Only my boss and I are here, the rest are out doing a small assignment."

"No, I don't want to leave yet. I want to inspect every inch of this place to know what I'm spending my money on. And I want you to show me around."

Hermione felt her heart rate pick up slightly, and tried to keep her voice even, "Why do I have to show you around?"

Draco raised an eyebrow, " Do you want me to pull my project out? Why are you as obstinate, inquisitive and annoying as you were then?"

Hermione opened her mouth to argue, then thought the better of it and snapped, "Fine. Let's go."

Draco smiled inwardly while keeping his trademark sneer on his face. This day was going well for him. It was fun to banter with somebody, since most people didn't dare to do it anymore. Of course there was always Blaise, but Blaise wasn't a hot woman, the feeling was just different. Very different.

"To your left is where we have the thestrals, they like to stay in the denser part of the forest where there's more moss, fungi and ferns. Its generally darker there too, suits them better," Hermione explained.

"Hmmm. Never really liked them to be honest. So tell me, what are the kind of assignments that you guys do here? And how do you recruit people?"

"Well we do everything related to magical creatures, anything that anybody needs us to do, we'll do it. We also run a viewing gallery business; basically people walk along the same path that you're walking, now with a tour guide, except that they usually pay instead of hijacking a guide and demanding to be shown around. For recruitment, we hold auditions for people who want to sign up and assess if they have the potential. There's an audition tomorrow."

"Right. How do you guys maintain this place anyway?"

"Well most of the money we get from our assignments goes to the running of this place. Which is why our salaries aren't exactly that high," Hermione mumbled, embarrassed at having to talk about money issues. She quickly said, "Look further ahead, that's the lake where the water fairies live. Don't stare at them like that. It seems every man just can't resist them. Oh goodness, you're completely hooked already, I can tell. Well I wouldn't advise you having sex with them. From what I've heard, it can be quite… Unpleasant."

Draco tore his gaze away from the giggling and waving water fairies and asked, "Wait what?"

Hermione just shrugged and continued, "Okay look on ahead to your right, that's the dragon house where-"

Draco interrupted and pointed, "Wait. Is that a hippogriff there?"

Hermione looked, " Well yeah it is. But since I remember how you were such a sissy and kept whining about how your arm hurt after that well deserved hippogriff attack, I decided not to walk there."

Draco stared at her in disbelief. SISSY? WELL DESERVED? He had _not _been a sissy, that stupid hippogriff had just attacked him out of nowhere. Although he did whine about the pain more than he should have.

" Lets go there. I'm a full grown man now, I can handle a hippogriff, no problem."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Men and their ego, seriously. "No, don't be stupid, although that may be a challenge for you. But you don't even know how to approach a hippogriff and angry is not the state you want a hippogriff to be in, ever. So just turn around and-Ow!" Hermione cried out as Draco suddenly grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the hippogriff.

Draco was annoyed. Why was she talking to him as though he was a child? Of course he knew what to do. He had been called many things before, but 'stupid' was definitely never one of them.

They reached the hippogriff and Draco took a deep breath as he slowly approached the hippogriff, bending as low as his pride would allow him to. He never understood why he had to bow down to anyone, much less something that didn't even have basic communication skills. The hippogriff regarded him out the corner of its eye, staring at him for such a long time that Hermione started to get uneasy and was ready to jump in should Draco suddenly get attacked. After what seemed like a century, the hippogriff finally lifted its gaze and ignored Draco, a clear sign that the hippogriff did not like him.

"Draco walk away from the hippogriff now! I suggest you make it quick and run in the opposite direction" Hermione whispered fiercely.

Draco straightened up, and answered without looking at her, "I am Draco Malfoy. I don't run for anything, and I don't run away from anything. Nothing is worth me having to run." Now looking the hippogriff in the eye, he said, "Do you know who I am? The very least you should do is acknowledge me!"

Hermione knew that what was about to happen next would hurt. A lot. Immediately she used her body weight and all her strength to knock Malfoy aside as she took the hit from the hippogriff for him. It all happened in a blur, and all she knew for the next few seconds was pain. Her left arm had been gashed deeply and she had been injured enough times before to know that this injury was not immediately life threatening, but would be if left untreated for too long. She could feel the blood flowing out and she fought the urge to gag. Quickly, she used her right arm to cover the wound and tried to use her jacket to stop the bleeding.

"What was that about! Do you know how much these clothes cost? They're all dirty now, I have to throw them away," Malfoy grumbled as he picked himself up from the ground, fussing about.

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to stay as calm as possible. Pain was clouding her vision and anger would do nothing to help it. " Can you please go now? Without getting into any trouble? I have something I need to do."

"Alright alright. I'm busy anyway. Lots of things to do. So busy with work at the office that I don't even have any days to rest," Draco blatantly lied as he turned around to walk off.

Hermione didn't even hear what he said as she stumbled to the nearest tree and leaned on it, fumbling to get her wand out. Her vision was turning dark and spots were dancing in front of her. She couldn't even feel anything anymore, her nerves numb with pain. "Aguamenti," she whispered, pointing at her wound. A new wave of agony overtook her and she had to use all her self-control to not scream. Her body convulsed as she did the spell again to wash her wound. Now sitting on the ground, Hermione took deep breaths to regain composure once the throbbing had subsided slightly. She knew that she needed proper medicine to heal her wound properly since the hippogriff's talons had cut all the way through her flesh to her muscle, and now a part of flesh on her arm was flapping around uselessly. Grimacing, she used her right arm to keep the flesh in its rightful place and slowly walked to their first aid station. It probably didn't have the medicine needed to mend her arm, but she would just have to make do with whatever she could find. She just prayed that the wound wouldn't fester and decay. A black arm wasn't attractive at all.

As Draco walked along the path, he was trying to figure out what had happened when Hermione pushed him aside violently. He thought he saw the familiar flash of steel from talons, but surprisingly he wasn't hurt. Now that he though about it, he hadn't really looked at her to see if she had gotten cut, and he quickly turned around to see if he could spot her. Instantly, he saw an exhausted figure clutching her left arm, walking slowly. His stomach lurched and he walked towards her, his long strides catching up with her easily.

Grabbing her shoulder, he turned her around. "What happened to you? What's wrong with your arm?" Draco asked as casually as he could.

Hermione winced as jolts of pain shot up her arm again. "Nothing's wrong. Just some random ache. Go home Malfoy."

Draco bristled, " Did I not already tell you that I'm a very busy man? If anything I would be going to the office but instead I am here actually asking about your wellbeing, you should-" Hermione turned to walk away, absolutely disinterested.

"I am talking to you! _Nobody_ walks away-" Malfoy stopped as he noticed the blood on the floor, trickling from her arm, forming a trail of dots, forming a path that led him to her. "Oh shit," he cursed under his breath and he caught up to her again, saying angrily, "Are you mad? What are you doing? You should be getting to a hospital right now!"

Hermione fidgeted uncomfortably. How could she explain to him that she did not have enough money to go to the hospital? "I said its not a serious wound, I don't need to go to the hospital! Mr. Busy, please continue being busy instead of disturbing me!"

Draco growled and grabbed her, "No way. We are going to the hospital right now." And without another word, he apparated to the nearest hospital, taking her along with him.

Draco paced up and down nervously. Hermione was currently in the operating room. The doctors had sedated her and said that they would have to try and repair her muscles, nerves and flesh. It was a complicated procedure which required many intricate spells, but if all went well she wouldn't need to stay the night. Perhaps just awhile for observation. Draco couldn't get rid of the terrible feeling of guilt. She had gotten hurt because of him. They had just met again after ten years and the first thing he did was to severely injure her. Perfect. He just wanted her to be fine. He wanted her to continue being the vibrant girl who could easily play with dragons. He wanted to hear that carefree laugh again. He wanted… Her not to hate him anymore. He collapsed on to a chair and ran his hand through his hair. This waiting was terrible. He hated every minute of it.

When the doctors finally came out of the operating room, Draco leaped to his feet and asked, "How is she? Is she going to be fine? What's the situation now?"

The main doctor smiled and reassured him, "She's going to be fine. Her body reacted well to the procedure. She's currently resting, but she can be discharged tonight."

Relief coursed through Draco's body as he nodded and thanked the doctor. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt such relief, as though a huge weight had been lifted. The closest he came to feeling like this would be in sixth year where he did not have to perform the task of killing Dumbledore anymore after Snape did it. Rushing to Hermione's ward, he let out a huge breath when he saw her lying on the bed, looking so peaceful and calm.

Slowly walking towards her, he couldn't take his eyes off her face. She was frowning, even in her sleep. Yet she looked so lovely he couldn't imagine how he had not seen how pretty she was back then. He had perfect sight and yet he couldn't see what had been in front of him. Kneeling beside her, he whispered, "Do you know how glad I am to see that you're fine? Don't ever do that again, it would kill me." And then, he uttered words that he had never said to anyone before, "I'm sorry."

His eyes traveled up her face to her hair, now short but still bushy. He had a sudden urge to touch it, but suddenly, he stumbled back. Come on, this was Granger! And no matter what she looked like, she was still a mudblood! He would never touch any of them. Suddenly unable to cope with all the new emotions he was feeling and conflicting thought in his head, he ran out of the room.

Half an hour later, Draco returned. He had thought it through. Granger was a mudblood, he was a pure blood, and he would stick to what he had known his whole life. Pure bloods did not touch anyone else but pure bloods, simple as that. He had even thought and practiced his speech as to what he was going to say to her when she asked why he was doing all this for her. It was all planned out already, just the way his life had been since young. Planned by his parents and the Dark Lord, and after the Dark Lord's demise as well as his father's death shortly after, he had taken control of his own life and started planning. The only thing that was still out of his control was marriage. It was tradition for Malfoys to have arranged marriages and his mother would choose his wife for him, as had been done for all Malfoys for many generations.

He was startled when he saw Hermione start to wake, and walked to her side. He was about to ask her how she was feeling when her phone started to vibrate on the table beside her. He snatched it up and looked, on the screen it was flashing "My boss ^^". Frowning, he picked up the call, ignoring Hermione's feeble protests.

"Hello?"

"Isn't this Hermione Granger's number?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"Excuse me? Who are you? Where's Hermione?"

Draco suddenly felt a small punch at his abdomen and saw Hermione frowning at him, stretching out her hand, obviously demanding for her phone. Draco was tempted to just walk out with it but reluctantly decided to just pass it to her.

"Hello? George? Sorry he's just some person. Anyway I'm at the St Olie Hospital, its nothing serious, I'm going to get discharged soon I think. No need to worry," Hermione rambled.

Draco watched her. Watched the way her lips moved when she spoke. Watched the way her eyes seemed to smile even when they were weary. Watched the way her nose wrinkled. Watched the way her eyebrows came together when she frowned. He watched her, mesmerized.

Suddenly, a tall muscular man burst into the room. His skin was tan and he had an intense look. He had a rugged feel to him, with messy hair that girls would love to run their fingers through. There was no other way to describe him; he was handsome.

"What happened to you! Did I not tell you to take care of yourself?' the man questioned, concern lacing his words.

Hermione smiled weakly, "I'm getting discharged already! No need to worry. Just some minor injury! I told you that you didn't need to come down here George!"

George! Draco assessed the man in front of him again. So this was George. He was obviously close to Hermione and Draco didn't like that at all. The fact that George was unbelievably handsome made Draco even unhappier. He cleared his throat and tried to make himself look taller.

Draco started, "I'm sure you know who I am. Hermione is in good hands with me, so you can leave now."

Hermione hissed at Draco, "Don't be so rude! This is my boss, George, and you should treat him with respect! He's older than you!"

Draco brushed this off; age wasn't a reason for respect. He had yelled at people way older than him and called them idiots from time to time, because they really were. He stared at George, wondering why this man wasn't panicking. Normally at this point, most would be stumbling over their words trying to seek his forgiveness.

George merely replied evenly, "Yes Mr. Malfoy I know who you are. But Hermione is my employee and my good friend, somebody who I always take care of, so let me do my job and you go back to yours."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I'm the one who saved her and brought her to the hospital whereas you didn't do anything" Draco retorted.

"And also the reason why I'm even here," Hermione muttered under her breath. She cleared her throat and said, " Ok guys, lets just get me discharged so that I can go home and sleep. Malfoy, if you cant keep that mouth of yours shut I'm going to put a sealing charm on it."

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them stood awkwardly at the entrance of the hospital. The bill had already been paid by Draco and Hermione didn't know what to say about that, so she didn't say anything.

"Can you get home yourself? Do you need any help?" George asked.

Hermione smiled, "Of course! I told you the wound wasn't that bad, I can easily apparate home! Don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow!"

George regarded her for a moment, not sure whether to believe, before saying, "Alright. I'm going off then. It's late, go home quickly. See you tomorrow." And with a curt nod to Draco, he apparated. Hermione watched George go, then started to walk across the road.

"Hey! Didn't you say you were going to apparate home?' Draco asked.

Hermione ignored him and continued walking, trying not to think about the stiffness in her arm. Draco growled at her and said, " Don't ignore me! You told your boss that you'd be apparating back home so why are you walking? You need to rest!"

Sighing, Hermoine turned around and snapped, "I lied, ok? I didn't want him to worry but I'm too weak to apparate home so I'm just going to walk. You should go home too."

"Walk home? Where do you live? Why don't you just do side along apparatition with me?"

"I live about half an hour's walk from here. And no thank you, in this state I will be spending the whole night vomiting if I do side along apparatition. Go home Malfoy."

Draco stared at her before saying in frustration, "Why do you have to make my life so difficult? Now I have to walk you all the way home just because you can't apparate! This is so annoying."

Hermione glowered at him, "You were never obligated to walk me home. I distinctly remember telling you twice to go home."

"I'm a gentleman. My mother always taught me to make sure a girl got home safe."

Hermione snorted and muttered, "Yeah and she also taught you to stay away from non pure bloods."

They continued walking in awkward silence until they reached her house. Draco took in the surroundings as they walked, his heart sinking further and further. Finally, Hermione sighed and said in a small voice, "This is where I live. Please just go home now." Draco stared at what he saw. His stomach was on the verge of revolting, his eyes becoming slightly unfocused and his hands were getting sweaty. Yet, all that he was aware of was how much pain he felt in his chest, how he could not breathe properly. Swallowing, he croaked, "This… This is your house?

**I know this chapter might not be that exciting but it lays the ground work for more stuff to come! I also don't want to rush through the events so please bear with me! This chapter was way longer than I intended it to be, so it's 3am now, which leaves me with 4 hours of sleep before getting up for work tomorrow :/ But anyway, I did it for you guys! **** PLEASE REVIEWWWW THANK YOUUUU! ^^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Pantsoflove: Hello! Glad that you're enjoying the story so much, hope you'll continue reading till the end!**

* * *

Draco stared at the building before him. Actually it couldn't even be considered a building. This mess of bricks, rubble, wood and plastic looked like a dump to him. How could she be living in this place, a place that looked even smaller than his bathroom and one that he would have never gone near in the first place, ever. He had always looked down on people who lived in such places, but to actually know someone who lived in that, was a major cultural shock. He turned back to look at Hermione, now staring at her feet, shifting about uncomfortably. It was evident that she was embarrassed at living in this… thing – he refused to acknowledge that it met the basic requirements of being a house- and for once, Draco started to think about what kind of situation she was in. Was she really so poor that she could not afford to live in any place decent? How had she ended up like this? Could he stand to be seen with someone who lived in that? For once, both of them were at a loss for words.

Finally, Hermione broke the silence and asked quietly, "Why are you doing this? Why are you bothering to hang around me?"

Draco was startled, then remembering what he had practised at the hospital, quickly broke into his well-rehearsed speech, "It's the duty of the upper class of society to make sure that the lower class is taken care of. Think of it as you being a poor, neglected neighbour, and I have a moral duty to make sure people like you don't become detrimental to society."

Hermione stared at him, hurt, but letting all forms of defiance show. "Fine. You have fulfilled your duties. But this poor, neglected neighbour does not need your help any longer. Go."

And to her surprise, Draco took one last look at her house, a mixture of revulsion and pity on his face, and walked off to apparate. He didn't even bother to argue. Perhaps that had been the final straw for him. Realising how close she was to poverty, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Suddenly Hermione felt a wave of tears that threatened to overcome her, but she quickly fought them down. Her roommate would definitely question her about why she was crying. She hadn't even told Draco that she couldn't afford to pay the rent for her apartment on her own, she had to share the cost with someone, and already he was so repulsed. Hermione didn't regret having to share the apartment though, her roommate, Xandra, was like the sister she never had. They had been living together for 5 years and the closeness they shared wasn't like anything she had ever felt with anyone else, not even Harry and Ron. Perhaps it was because Xandra was a girl, that was why they could talk about things she knew Harry and Ron would never comprehend.

Xandra came from Beauxbatons and was extremely beautiful. She had a perfect body, with a pretty face to accompany it and a sense of elegance in everything she did. Sometimes Hermione felt so inferior compared to her, but Xandra had never seemed to look down on Hermione. Sighing, Hermione walked into her apartment, and pushed open the door that was currently being held together by masking tape. Luckily the lock still worked.

"You're back!" Xander greeted her excitedly. "How was work today? You look tired, do you want me to make you anything to drink?'

Hermione smiled gratefully, "Some hot chocolate would be nice."

"Aright! Just sit on the couch, I'll make one for you!" Xander bounced off to the kitchen and hummed as she prepared the drink.

Hermione felt a rush of gratitude towards Xander. She didn't know what she would do without her. Xander wasn't as poor as her, and could afford to live in a better apartment, but she had chosen to stay with Hermione, claiming that Hermione couldn't manage on her own and she needed help once in awhile, despite Hermione's vehement protests. Xander worked as a salesperson in Pandora Shopping mall, the biggest, most luxurious shopping centre in the entire wizarding world. Nothing there came cheap, but all goods had the best quality from the best places, and anyone who owned anything from Pandora had to be relatively well to do. Xander also worked in their VVIP lounge once in awhile. This VVIP lounge was exclusive to members of Pandora who spent at least 10 million galleons a year at that shopping mall. Basically, they were the extremely rich elite who probably threw money away if it was not shiny enough. Hermione could never comprehend how they could spend so much money on goods at a shopping mall, but then again she never had the money to begin with.

Hermione smiled as Xander approached her with two cups of steaming hot chocolate, smiling contentedly as Xander started telling her about what had happened to her at work. Speaking of which, she remembered that she had to go to Pandora tomorrow to buy supplies for the magical creatures. Resting her head on Xander's shoulder, she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Xander's voice, which always seemed to comfort her, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Hermione stepped into the Pandora, feeling slightly out of place, as she did every time she had to come here. The Pandora was huge; a total of ten floors and had about fifty shops per level. Everything anyone would ever need in their entire lifetime was sold here. There were staircases at every level, although they tended to shift once in awhile, just like those in Hogwarts. But for the majority of people who preferred not to walk, there were magical carpets around that would take one to the shop they wanted, all you had to do was say the name of the shop. Hermione suspected that whoever came up with this concept might have been a muggleborn, since it looked suspiciously similar to the magical flying carpet in Aladdin. Because you had to pay one galleon for each ride on the carpet, Hermione chose to walk. Sometimes Hermione wondered whether it was really necessary to buy the supplies for their creatures here. Couldn't they buy it from some other place, at a much cheaper price? It was really no surprise that most people at The Magical Creatures were poor, though she was worse than the rest because she had to pay off a bad debt for Xander a few years ago and had refused any form of monetary compensation from her.

Walking along the stairs, with her head running through the list of items she had to buy, she almost bumped into someone. Hermione quickly opened her mouth to apologise but her mouth was left hanging open when she saw who it was.

Blaise looked at her and smiled, "Hello Granger, still thinking about a million things as you walk around I see."

Hermione gaped, unable to reply. She had never seen Blaise smile before in their seven years at Hogwarts. Well six, since she spent majority of her seventh year running around finding horcruxes and saving the world, no big deal. Of course she had read about Blaise and his notorious affairs with women, the vice CEO of Malfoy Enterprises would definitely get much attention when it came to gossip. Seeing him in real life however, she realized why so many women would be smitten with him. When he smiled, it was dazzling and the way he carried himself was unbelievably charismatic.

Blaise laughed, "Don't look at me like that Granger. Am I suddenly so unbelievably handsome?"

His laugh! Hermione blushed and tried not to swoon, "You've changed."

"Well, that's what everyone has been telling me, but the ladies certainly don't seem to mind," he winked.

Hermione blushed even further and stammered, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just buying something for my current girlfriend. A break up present actually. I expect her to go hysterical when I tell her I want out, but perhaps a present will ease the trauma on my ears."

Hermione laughed, "What kind of material woman are you dating!"

Blaise shrugged, "A very material one apparently. Anyway I have to rush off! I'm due to meet her in about half an hour and I haven't gotten anything yet! It was nice meeting you again, maybe this time we can actually be friends."

He gave another of his dazzling smiles and a promising wink as he walked off, leaving Hermione feeling hot and bothered, her heartbeat at an abnormally high rate and her cheeks flushed. Suddenly, she looked at her watch and realized it was already four. Shit! The auditions started at five! She ran to the shops and quickly bought her supplies, compartmentalizing her meeting with Blaise at the back of her mind, available for scrutinizing later.

* * *

Draco stood at the entrance of his office building, reading the Daily Prophet and waiting for his secretary, Walter, to bring the documents he needed to him. Walter was terrified of him, he knew. There were times when Draco considered being nicer to him, but decided not to since that would be terrible for his reputation. He needed all his employees to respect him so that they would do their jobs properly. Suddenly, he saw someone standing next to him and he got a shock. It was Granger. And she was wearing the exact same thing that she wore as yesterday. With her blood stained jacket and all. Wrinkling his nose, he frowned and stared at her. She wasn't looking at him, just looking straight and seemingly oblivious to everything around her. And then, just as suddenly, she started to disappear. Draco stared harder. He… He was hallucinating her?! Sure he had been thinking about her the whole night, but to actually start hallucinating?! It was disturbing.

Walter then appeared, presenting him the documents, "Here you go, president sir."

"Finally. Took you long enough," Draco snatched them.

Walter looked at him warily, "I'm sorry president sir."

Draco looked at him carefully. He had never really scrutinized his secretary before. Walter was definitely competent at what he did, which was why Draco had actually allowed him to be his secretary for so long. Walter was slightly shorter than Draco, and he wasn't exactly bad looking, although Draco definitely felt that he looked better. He guessed Walter was what most girls would describe as 'cute', a nightmare in every guy's dictionary. No guy wanted to be known as cute, although girls seemed to like cute guys. Still, it was damaging to a guy's pride to be 'cute'. Draco merely nodded to Walter and apparated home.

* * *

Draco walked on the garden outside his house. His garden was actually half the size of a football field, quite vast with well-kept grass and flowers. He had always liked to think here and Hermione was currently taking up all his attention. Draco didn't live with his parents anymore, he had moved out as soon as possible, and using his family wealth, he had bought the land and started construction. As he walked, he knew without looking that she had appeared beside him again. Draco knew that hallucinating wasn't a good thing, but if this was a way in which he could see her more often, he gladly welcomed it. At least his hallucination didn't talk back to him and get him all riled up the way the original did. They continued walking in tandem slowly along the lawn, their steps matching each other's. Finally, Draco decided that it couldn't be healthy for him to be hallucinating so much. He started to mumble his familiar string of gibberish that he used whenever he wanted to distract himself, "Ten thousand year old tree, one hundred story building, cats and frogs, wizards in the toilet, water from the waterfall, annoying snitch, even more annoying bludger, roast chicken." Just as he finished his chant, his cell phone rang and he quickly picked up when he saw that it was from his mother.

"Hello? What? Blind date for my possible future wife? I have no choice, do I. Sure I'll go, why not. Okay today at seven. The usual place."

Draco walked into his house and flopped onto his couch. He picked up the nearest book and attempted to read, but his hallucination had appeared again and was sitting beside him, peeking over his shoulder and into the book, with a curious look that Hermione always had whenever she saw one. He looked at her and she looked back, rather docile with a wide-eyed stare. Draco closed his book in frustration and put it down. Looking at his hallucination squarely, he said "Wow. I'm really going crazy. Can you at least change your clothes? You have blood all over them!" Hermione then stood up and walked in front of him, leaning on the desk behind her.

"I don't know why I keep thinking about you. I mean come on, you're not even my type. My ideal type is….." Draco trailed off as his hallucination changed into a sexy tight fitting black dress showing of all her curves, giving him a sultry smile and winked, making his body feel hot and bothered, his pants a little tight.

Draco swallowed as he struggled, "I… Since when have I fantasized about this! I… I mean, I did but… But you're definitely not my type! You have to be younger than twenty four-" Hermione changed into a young looking girl with two ponytails, making a shy face and acting cute with a bashful smile and tentative eyes.

"You have to the daughter of a top CEO of one of the top ten companies-" Hermione changed once again, looking sophisticated and elegantly dressed, with Pandora items adorning her from head to toe, yet not in an ostentatious manner.

Draco's voice trailed off as all the different images of Hermione flashed before him, and he closed his eyes in frustration, muttering, "I really must be crazy." Pushing himself off the coach and putting his hands on his hips as he stood up, he walked around and started again, "Ten thousand year old tree, one hundred story building, cats and frogs, wizards in the toilet, water from the waterfall, annoying snitch, even more annoying bludger, roast chicken." He turned back behind him to find Hermione, in the same appearance as yesterday, still standing there, he groaned. He needed to see her again. Pulling out his cell phone, he called Walter and asked him to look into the employee information that The Magical Creatures had sent him and asked for Ms Granger's number. With that, he called her.

"Hello?" Hermione answered, sounding slightly breathless.

"Is this Granger?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm surprised you can't recognize my voice. I'm Malfoy, I want to meet you today."

He could almost see her roll her eyes as she said, "I don't have time for you Malfoy. I'm hanging up." And she did.

Spluttering, Draco stared at his phone. What was it with all these magical creatures people? First George and now her, how could they all hang up on him! He paced up and down, feeling as though he was about to go out of his mind soon, but then a slow smile started to form as he remembered something and went to his room to change his clothes.

* * *

Hermione shut her phone in annoyance. She had just apparated back to her workplace with the supplies and was rushing around trying to store them all so that she could help the others with setting up of the audition area, and Malfoy just had to call her and waste her time.

Finally done with her supplies, she rushed to the open air, fenced up area where her colleagues were shifting a table and setting up application forms, water bottles and things they would need for the auditions.

"Hey guys! Just got back with all the supplies! Is there anything I can help with?" Hermione called out cheerfully.

One of her teammates, Alex, teased, "Hey Hermione! Nope, a girl wouldn't be able to lift all these heavy things so you can just stand at the side."

Hermione laughed, "Shut up! I'm a lot stronger than I look! Stupid boy."

Suddenly, George's voice's drifted in behind her, "A woman shouldn't use such language, Hermione."

Hermione whirled around and blushed, "It's not my fault! I spend so much time around you guys, its bound to happen."

Immediately a chorus of "No it's not our fault!" and "We didn't do anything!" arose from her team members and George laughed, "Fair point. Your language definitely got a lot more colorful since you started working with us."

Alex asked, "Hey George, how big is this Malfoy Enterprises company anyway?"

Hermione stared at him, "You mean you don't know? Is there anyone else here just as clueless as him?"

There was a round of sheepish nodding and hesitant chuckles, as it was evident that everyone else pretty much had no idea either. Hermione and George exchanged a look. She should have expected this. Most of them came from abroad and spent more time with magical creatures than out in town and actually interacting with people, other than those in the team. Quite the country bumpkins.

Just then, before either Hermione or George could answer, someone shouted from the entrance, "The auditionees are here!"

Everyone quickly scrambled to get seated, with Hermione and George sitting in the middle, as they were the main two who would make the decisions. Although Hermione was younger than all of them, she had proved to be extremely capable at what she did, as always, and had gained much respect from everyone.

The auditions commenced and the auditionees had to present their resumes, go through physical tests, try to tame certain creatures as well as identify different injuries on different creatures and provide the correct remedy. Some auditions were impressive, some were average and some were just downright hilarious. There were people who had never seen a thestral before, and were flustered trying to find where it was, providing much amusement for everyone. Hermione was enjoying herself immensely, reminded once again how much she loved what she did and why she continued to stay in this job despite the salary. This was her life, and she was happy.

Auditions continued on one after the other and Hermione meticulously took notes of every single auditionee so she could review them later and pick the best few. As she was writing about how the previous auditionee had done fabulously well in communicating with the creatures but lacked certain knowledge about healing them, her teammate at the entrance shouted, "Next!" Alex asked, "Name and resume please."

Hermione's furious scratching on parchment stilled and her entire body froze when she heard the name being drawled out.

"Draco Malfoy."

* * *

Hi everyone! Hoped you like this chapter! Anyway, the number of reviews I got for the last chapter was really... Few and it was heartbreaking, to say the least. I'm not the kind of author who threatens not to update without reviews because I write for the love of it and I want to share it with everyone, but I do hope I can get feedback from my readers because I wont know how to improve otherwise. Writing my first story ever, remember? Haha yes so everyone, please let me know your views and thoughts!


	4. Chapter 4

**CheshireCat23: Yes, but it was only for the first chapter I believe?**

**Love bleeds red: There'll be more of Hermione the way you like it coming up! Hehe ^^**

* * *

Draco apparated to The Magical Creatures and saw a long line of people at the building. He was shocked, there were actually so many people who wanted to do this grubby job? He could never understand why anyone would want to spend so much time being dirty, tending to the creatures, and risking their lives. Draco walked to the front of the line and looked in, trying to spot the audition area.

"Hey, what are you doing, don't you see that there's a line here?" someone asked irritably. Draco looked to his left and saw one of the staff holding a clipboard, staring at him. Draco was incredulous, did all the magical creatures people have no fear of him? Drawing himself up to his full height, he asked haughtily, "Don't you know who I am?"

Frowning, the staff took a closer look and replied, "No. All I know is that there are people here who have been waiting for hours so you better get to the end of the line if you want to get in."

Draco was dumbfounded. Had this man been living in a hole his entire life? How could he not know who Draco Malfoy was? Resigned, he turned to walk to the end of the line which seemed to stretch on endlessly, risking one more quick glance into the enclosure. And then he saw her. His surroundings dissolved around him, all he could see was her, and he never wanted to look away. Taking her in, he watched her laugh, drinking water from a cup, pointing and talking, simple actions, but he had never seen anyone else who could captivate him that way.

"Its her. But this woman, is not the rough, lower class woman who had undermined pride. No, compared to the woman I remembered, compared to the woman I imagined, this woman is so much more… Cool."

* * *

Hermione slowly lifted her head and stared at Draco in shock. What was he doing here! She could feel George tense beside her, as he leaned in and whispered, "Just treat him like any other auditionee." Hermione glanced around at her colleagues and saw that none of them had any idea who Draco was.

George said, "You don't have a resume."

Draco replied, 'I'm doing you a favour. It would shock you too greatly if you saw it."

"Why are you here if you don't even have a resume?"

"Because of the woman next to you. I asked her to meet me but she refused to. Granger, is your arm ok? Did you get more treatment?"

Everyone turned to stare at Hermione, feeling that this situation was a little absurd and getting more uncomfortable by the second.

Hermione glared at Draco, 'If you aren't going to audition, then-"

Draco cut in, "What are you doing later? I have something to tell you."

Hermione pursed her lips and repeated, "If you aren't going to audition, then-"

Draco interrupted again, 'Fine then, interview me. What do you want me to do?"

George asked, "What is your specialty?"

Draco replied simply, "I'm good at making money."

The whole team except Hermione and George all chorused in approval, "Oh that's good, I like it."

Alex laughed, "Good for you. But what are you good at that you can demonstrate right now?"

Draco took out his wallet and held it in an outstretched hand, extremely relaxed and obviously in his comfort zone. He said causally, "I have lots of money. And my hobby is spending money."

Once again, the entire team, with the exception of Hermione and George, clapped and nodded, all laughing as they said, "He's in!"

Draco smirked and glanced at Hermione again, shrugging his shoulders and looking pleased with himself. Hermione looked down, extremely embarrassed and annoyed, feeling severely tempted to just hex him on the spot. Why did Draco always have to belittle her with his unthinking actions and words? He knew that she didn't have money and yet he was flaunting his wealth right in front of her. Her teammates didn't know any better, they were a nice fun-loving group of guys who up to now, actually seemed to find Draco funny and liked him. Hermione raised her gaze and looked at Draco with displeasure, while Draco met her gaze with feigned innocence, inwardly elated at having won this round against George.

George tapped Hermione lightly, his voice hard, "Follow me to my office."

* * *

"What is your relationship with that guy? Why was he with you at the hospital that time and what is he talking about, that he came all the way here just for you?" George asked sharply.

"We merely used to go to school together," Hermione said, looking away embarrassed and unwilling to talk about what had happened between them in school; names he had called her, punches she had thrown at him, the continual trying to best each other. "It's nothing, we're not close, we didn't even like each other back then. I have no idea why he came here, it's strange…" Hermione trailed off helplessly.

George looked at her and said quietly, "It's not strange at all. He's a man. And you… You're a pretty great woman."

Hermione looked at him surprised, unsure of what he meant, but if this incident with Draco would cost her her relationship with George, she was going to make sure he regretted having ever lived. George took immense care of her and she loved him like a brother. George had been there for her when she had been going through tough times after Hogwarts, when Harry and Ron weren't by her side, when…. That happened. She didn't like to think or talk about it. Fuming slightly, she walked out of the office and went in search of Draco.

* * *

She found him showing off to her teammates, about the amount of money he earned and what he spent it on. All her teammates were looking at Draco as though he was some treasure that they never wanted to let go, completely captivated by him.

Hermione grabbed him and hissed, "Follow me."

Draco looked at her curiously, as Hermione turned and dragged him out to an open space outside the building, where it was quieter, lush with greenery and had a small waterfall nearby. Birds were chirping and small creatures ran about, but they wouldn't be overheard here or disturbed by the bigger creatures.

Hermione turned around abruptly and raised her voice, "Who do you think you are?'

Draco asked innocently, "What do you mean?"

"I'm asking, who the hell do you think you are! Do I look like a pushover? Are you holding some sort of grudge?"

"Do people holding grudges normally come to find you?" Draco smirked.

"You laugh? You think this is the first time I've had to deal with assholes like you? I gained loads of experience from you in Hogwarts."

"What? Asshole? You're calling me an asshole?"

"Shut up! So you have a lot of money? You're good at earning it? Do you really earn it? Or is it just you being fed from a silver spoon since young, using your parents' wealth and inheritance? Do you think that what we do is funny and you have the right to look down on us? Someone like you who just lazes about all day, doing nothing except ride on your parents' wealth and connections."

Draco looked at her in disbelief, "Lazing around all day? Living on my parents' money? Hah I wish! I just want to play, but it's just that all my ideas are so good and I'm naturally gifted so when I open my mouth to say something, it's always brilliant and-"

"Stay on topic! You're pissing me off. Why do you have to come here and embarrass me like that?' Hermione was close to shouting.

"For a woman, you speak so roughly and without class, but I should have expected that from you I guess. You should have asked me more sweetly; it would sound so much better. And I'm not the kind of person that you should be shouting at."

Her rage building, Hermione looked away and tried to control herself, '"Whatever. You better hurry up and tell me why you're here."

"I already said it. I came because of you."

"So why did you come because of me?"

"I don't know either," Draco looked up and sighed. "And even if I tell you, you'll only think that I'm crazy. Today, lets just say that I came to get your hospital fees."

"What?"

"I'm the one who paid the bill for your wounded arm, and I didn't even get a simple 'thank you' from you."

"How much do you want?"

Draco looked at her and half smiled, saying nothing.

Hermione flared up, "I'm asking you how much do you want!"

"Are you here when you aren't out on assignments? So I'll be able to find you here?"

"Do you think I hang around here just so that you can come and see me? Tell me how much you want. Hurry up, don't you want the money?"

Draco sighed and said, "This is exactly why I keep thinking of you."

"What?"

"You were just like this the other day… Always getting angry with me and saying whatever you want without any consideration. It makes you seem like such a strange, different woman. Why do you look prettier when you're angry?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked away, letting our a huff of frustration and blowing her bangs out of her face, not even bothering to conceal her irritation.

Suddenly, Draco stepped forward and pulled the left side of her jacket down, exposing her shpulder and upper arm. Hermione gasped and hurriedly tried to pull it back up, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Draco refused to let go and continued tugging it downwards, even as she struggled against him. Hermione glared at him and ordered, "Let go."

Draco replied calmly, "I just want to check on your injury. If you had answered me earlier, I wouldn't have to do this."

He jerked the jacket down again and leaned in close to inspect the wound, staring intently. Hermione shrank back slightly, watching him with careful eyes, yet here was a hint of tenderness in her gaze. She was touched by his relentless concern for her, and she couldn't remember the last time she had felt the way she was now. Hermione continued watching him, her gaze softening.

Draco finally looked up and commented gently, 'It left a scar. I guess you can't run for Miss Witch anymore." He pulled her jacket back up and adjusted it to ensure that it was covering her properly, making sure that she wouldn't catch a cold. Hermione remained silent, her heart beating fast and her breaths short.

'I'll leave now. I nearly forgot that I have an important appointment. I'll take care of the scar, so go to the same hospital and call beforehand."

Without another word, he turned and walked away, leaving Hermione staring at him, her eyes slightly wet, betraying all emotion she felt. She shivered, not from the cold, but from the many emotions all mixed into one coursing through her and she just stood there, unmoving.

Little did they know that from above, the head of The Magical Creatures had seen everything from his office, his jaw and fist clenched, as he slowly turned and walked away.

* * *

As Draco walked away and apparated home, his head was buzzing with all the events that had just happened. Merely being so close to her had made him breathless already, and he wanted nothing more than to hug her and feel her in his arms. Draco was afraid that she would find out the intensity of what he felt, because it would scare her away, and to be honest it scared him too. He kept up with his antagonistic attitude because it was the only way he knew how to shield his feelings, but he wanted her to know the real him. The Draco that yearned for someone to see through all the defences he had accumulated, someone to care enough to want to break them down. The Draco that felt lonely sometimes, when he saw everyone have a happy Christmas while he went home to a big, cold house, and ate silently with his mother. The Draco that just wanted someone to love him for who he was, instead of for his wealth and connections.

His phone buzzed and he answered, "Blaise?"

"Hey Draco! You free tonight, wanna go out? I just dumped my girlfriend and it was such a nightmare. I gave her a long kiss, and told her that it was a break up kiss so that she would always remember me as a sweet man, but she got really really mad and started screaming. It subsided a little after I gave her a Pandora ring, but man, it was still so tough. I just don't get women."

Draco rolled his eyes, Blaise changed women the way he changed shirts. Draco never understood why Blaise had become this way, but he never asked. The war had changed different people in different ways and it wasn't his place to interrogate Blaise. "I can't, I have some blind date with my possible future wife again."

"Oh man, that sucks for you! Luckily I got rid of the stupid ritual of having my mum pick my wife for me when I could… Why don't you doing what I did? I told my mother that if I gave her 500 galleons a month, I could pick my own wife. She agreed instantly."

"Your mother probably killed all her husbands just for money, of course she would agree if you bribe her. My parents aren't like that."

"Bummer to be you. Anyway, since you aren't free I'll just go practice my title song for my new album. See you tomorrow!"

Draco hung up and sighed, wishing he could be as carefree as Blaise. Not many people knew that Blaise was also a singer. His stage name was an alias, and while he had never held a concert before, his records had sold millions. Blaise claimed it was all part of being mysterious, the unknown singer would get more revenue than Blaise the vice CEO. Blaise had actually quietly written songs and sang for him and Pansy a few times with his guitar in school, but other than the two of them he doubted that anyone else knew this secret hobby that Blaise had. Since Blaise had been so reserved in school, and it did not go with his image at all, nobody had ever thought of Blaise doing such a thing.

As Draco walked up his staircase, he halted as he came to a realization. When Hermione had touched him and led him outside, he didn't flinch and pull away instantly the way he normally would. In fact, he had thoroughly enjoyed holding her hand. What on earth was she doing to him? Hermione was a scary woman, if it continued this way, very soon he would look into the mirror and not recognize the man staring back at him. He needed to find a remedy, fast.

* * *

Ginny walked gloomily back to The Burrow, already knowing what was about to happen. Every single time her mother called her home, it was for the same reason. Ginny had grown up to be very successful, owning one of the biggest recording labels in the wizarding world. She was also an acclaimed director, and while she once had a quiet defiance, she was now more vocal and confident of herself. All her older brothers had become relatively successful at what they did, but there was no doubt that Ginny was the star of the Weasley family, gaining much publicity and helping to restore her family name which had once been looked down on by other purebloods. However, in her mother's eyes, Ginny was severely lacking in one thing. Marriage.

"Hey Mum, I'm here!" Ginny called out.

Molly Weasley's head popped out from the kitchen, with stains on her apron, and beamed, "Hello there dear, why don't you come in for a moment, I'm making apple pie!"

Ginny took around at the house, nothing much had changed since she shifted into her own apartment and started making a name for herself. A sense of nostalgia overtook her as she remembered all the good times she had had here before, even in bleak times of war. Smiling fondly, she went into the kitchen and sat down, grabbing a mug nearby to pour a glass of water for herself.

"Here dear, try whether this apple pie tastes alright," Molly Weasley sat down and handed a slice of apple pie to Ginny on a plate.

Ginny took a bite and smiled, "Still tastes as good as ever Mum. So why did you call me here for?"

Molly hesitated for a while before gushing, "You know how I really want you to get married Ginny, I mean you're already twenty six but you don't have a boyfriend or any sort of romance in your life! I want to have grandchildren that I can look after; I miss having kids running around in the house! It seems so… Boring now that I don't have my seven children with me anymore."

Ginny sighed. She had heard this a million times before. "You can't force these things Mum. I'm just waiting until I meet the right man! You don't want me to marry someone I don't love just so you can have grandchildren, do you?"

"Well of course not dear, but you don't seem to be trying! How can you not have met anyone for so long! There are plenty of eligible young men out there! So… I… Sort of… Put up an advertisement for a blind date for you in the Daily Prophet."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Ginny thundered, horrified at what she was hearing.

Molly cringed and tried to explain herself, "You always say that you haven't met the right man, but when I put up at an advertisement for you, there were so many men who were interested! Now that you're famous and all, men are just dying to date you! Why won't you give any of them a chance? I looked through all the applications, and I found one that was quite good. He's a CEO of two big companies! Lots of family wealth as well. Just try please Ginny dear? For me?"

Ginny glared at her mother, and tried to protest again, " But mum… I really don't want to go on a blind date… I rather just meet a man on my own…"

Molly considered her daughter for a while and asked quietly, "Is this because of Harry?"

Ginny was startled at the question. Harry and her had broken up shortly after he had started being an auror. He simply did not have time for her and was perfectly happy being married to his job. Besides, she had never loved Harry. He was just the golden boy, the Chosen One, which girl wouldn't date him? And although Ginny had been in love with someone else at that time, due to certain events, she had started dating Harry even when her heart no longer belonged to her.

Molly took Ginny's silence for consent and sighed, "It's been so long dear. You have to get over him, meet new people."

Ginny listened to her mother's words and knew that what she said was true, even if the 'him' she was referring to was someone else.

Ginny had loved him; ready to throw away everything she had just to be with him. But something had happened, and her heart had never belonged to her ever since.

She closed her eyes and swallowed, her heart twisting. She missed him, so much. She wanted to see him again, to have him hold her again, and tell her he loved her.

But that was all just wishful thinking. It would never happen again. It was over, and she had to pick herself up again.

"Alright Mum, I'll go." Ginny said quietly.

* * *

**Hmmm.. Who's this mystery guy? Any guesses?**


	5. Chapter 5

**So far only one person has managed to correctly identify who Ginny's mystery man is, keep guessing everyone!**

**Anyway, we all love adorable Draco, don't we?**

Draco tapped his foot irritably as he leaned against a railing, waiting for his blind date to appear. He hated waiting; it was such a waste of his time. Scanning the crowd, he searched for someone who could possibly be his future wife. Nobody caught his eye. Draco yawned and looked at his watch again; his date was now ten minutes late and that did not settle well with him.

Suddenly, he saw a familiar shade of red walking in his direction, keeping her head down and trying to avoid attention. And then he realized why. She was one of the most famous people in the wizarding world, and was extremely successful, arguably even more successful than him. Everyone knew who she was, the most acclaimed director ever; everything she touched seemed to turn to gold and was an instant success. She also happened to be part of the family he had been told to hate since young, she was Ginny Weasley. Wait… His date was…. Ginny Weasley?! Had his mum gotten so desperate for him to get married? He was only twenty-seven, young, full of energy and plenty of time to get married! This was really taking it a step too far, how could his mum ever think of trying to set him up with Ginny Weasley?! This was preposterous.

"Well well, look who we have here, Ginny Weasley I believe," Draco drawled.

Ginny looked up and asked in disbelief, "My date is… You?"

"Apparently so. No need to look so shocked, I didn't ask for this either."

Ginny looked away and muttered, "I knew this was a horrible idea. I'm going to kill mum later."

"Speak up, I can't hear you. I'm not part of your adoring fan club; I don't hang on to every single word you say."

Ginny glared at him, "Still the same annoying Malfoy. Ten years down the road and it seems like we're at Hogwarts all over again. Why did our parents arrange for us to meet? Are they serious? Malfoy and Weasley? That in itself sounds like an oxymoron."

"Well I can't say I'm entirely pleased by this either. This is a total waste of time, I don't care how famous you are, no matter what you're still part of the weasel family." And with that, Draco walked away, leaving Ginny with her fists clenched, shooting daggers at his back.

Little did they know that the Fates was never kind, and even if they thought this was the last time their paths would ever have to cross again, the Fates would never let their lives be so easy.

Draco sat on the porch outside his house and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. His porch overlooked his own, albeit slightly small, lake and it was tranquil, with his house hidden safely away from the city and the hustle and bustle of working life. He swung his legs lightly as he stared at the water, trying to clear his mind of all the thoughts running through. Just then, his cell phone rang and he saw it was his mum. Sighing, knowing what was coming, he picked up,"Hello?"

"How'd your date go today?"

"Mum, are you absolutely insane? I don't mind these dates you set up for me, but I don't want someone who has hexed me before and has 'Weasel' for a last name. Plus I thought we were sworn enemies with them, why did you even set me up with her?"

"Draco, don't be ridiculous. It's been ten years since the Dark Lord's death and you're still holding all those grudges? Ginny Weasley is famous, a lot more famous than you, and she has made so much money. Marriage with her would help gain support for your companies and you know it. Don't be such a child, won't you even try?"

"No mum, I don't want her at all. I just want someone who will be a good wife and mother. Her face? What kind of question is that, of course she has to be pretty She needs a chic, short, haircut, tan skin, and doesn't smile much…." Draco turned to his right and realized that Hermione had appeared before him again. Looking at her, Draco continued, "Someone who gets angry easily, with eyes that are a bit sad… Someone who can't run for Miss Witch because of a scar… What? You think I'm crazy? Mum…. I'm not sure, but if I ever go crazy, can you still let me keep the inheritance? Hello? Mum?"

Draco lowered his phone as he realized that his mum had hung up on him after telling that he was crazy and she didn't want to hear any more nonsense from him; he was going to try to get together with Ginny Weasley and that was the end of the matter. He glared at Hermione as he accused, "This is all your fault! Are you going to take responsibility if I lose my inheritance?"

Hermione turned and glared back at him "Why should I take responsibility?"

Draco moved backwards, flabbergasted, "What? She can talk now too?" He knocks his head with his knuckles as he says to himself, "You're just imagining it. I can't be going crazy."

He stands up and paces along the porch, before walking back into his house, all the while muttering his chant of strange words, as Hermione slowly vanishes…

Hermione hummed along to her favorite singer, Bee Zee, as she walked into her office. Bee Zee's songs had provided her with the comfort she needed after Hogwarts, especially when her father had passed away seven years ago. They provided a sort of distraction for her, and right now, with all thoughts of her encounter with Draco yesterday still fresh in her mind, she would need all the distraction she could get. Opening her locker, she took off her headphones and put her stuff into it, getting ready for training. Hermione took off her jacket and catching sight of her scar, she paused and thought about everything that had happened, hearing Draco's words all over again. It was difficult to ignore him when he was so persistent.

"Hermione, come on why are you just standing there! Training's about to start!" Alex called out.

Jolted out of her reverie, Hermione hurriedly closed her locker and ran over to where the rest of her team was. Today's training was not going to be easy; it was going to be like fitness camp from hell. Bracing herself, she set on their tasks for the day with the rest of the guys.

They had to clear an obstacle course, specially designed to test all aspects of their body. They had to climb up a five meter wall using nothing but a rope, try to successfully stun a moving target as huge axes swung down from both sides and spikes occasionally shooting up from the ground, swim through the lake used by the water faeries (Hermione usually used this obstacle to catch up with the guys, since they always had such a difficult time ignoring them whereas she could just breeze through) and go through a forest, climbing up trees or search through bushes for edible fruit and nut. Once their bag was full, the load would weigh approximately 35 pounds and they would then have a five kilometer sprint up a hill. At the end of it all, everyone was panting heavily, with rivers of sweat pouring down their bodies. Hermione collapsed on the ground, feeling slightly dizzy, reminding herof how unfit she had gotten and how much she would need to train up again.

"Alright guys, we need to work on our sword fighting now," George announced, and was met with a chorus of protests. He sighed, "I'm just as tired as all of you, but we need to make sure our technical skills are top notch as well. The yetis aren't going to wait for you to recover before charging at you, and everyone should know by now that yetis are extremely resistant to hexes. So we have to depend on using physical methods to capture them. Come on everyone."

Still grumbling, the team picked themselves up as they trudged back to their training facility, where everyone picked up a wooden sword and split up into pairs. Hermione was exhausted, and she was dismayed when she got paired with George. He was the best among all of them at everything they did, and getting paired with him meant that she would have to work even harder, something her body was entirely unwilling to do at the moment.

As they battled on, exchanging blows and dodging attacks, Hermione felt her focus slip as fatigue set in. As she was holding off George, her mind drifted off to Draco, and she was caught off guard when one of his blows knocked her to the ground. George shouted, "You better come to your senses, where is your focus!"

Grimacing, Hermione picked herself off the ground and bowed her head, "I'm sorry."

""Is it because of your injury?"

"No it isn't, director."

"If it's not your injury then why are you like this? Do you want to get pulled out of this assignment? For now, you are in charge of handling the newest rookies from the last audition!"

Hermione gasps and looked dismayed, "Director!"

"Everyone dismissed for today," George barks before walking off.

Hermione looked stricken and called out behind him, "Director! Please!"

Realizing that once he had made up his mind he would not change it so easily, she sighed as she went outside to sit down and rest, feeling slightly depressed. Besides needing the money, she had also been excited for this new project. Hermione had never dealt with yetis before, so this would be a new experience, and she really wanted to see what being on top of a mountain would be like.

Alex walked out and passed her a canned drink, "Well look on the bright side. This is a chance for you to rest from all the previous missions we've been on."

Hermione kept silent and stared moodily at the drink in her hand.

"He didn't show up today, that guy who claims he makes lots of money. I liked him, he has good reflexes."

Hermione stared at him, "How do you know about his reflexes?"

"Well you can tell from the way he speaks."

Hermione scoffed in disbelief and looked away.

Alex suddenly looked at her in shock and demanded, "Did you take him out yesterday to beat him up?!"

Hermione was appalled as she replied, "Do you think I'm a gangster? Besides, he doesn't have any kind of interest in our work."

Alex nodded and agreed, "Right. He was just interested in you."

Hermione immediately retorted, "It's not like that."

"Then why are you protesting so much?"

"Seriously, stop teasing."

"I'll stop if you pass me your cell phone."

"Why do you want it for?"

"I forgot mine. Just let me use it."

Hermione took it out and handed it over, looking suspicious but unsure of what hidden intentions Alex might have. He scrolled through her call list and mumbled, "Xander… Alex… Ginny… My boss…. Oh! This unknown number, it's the money making guy right?"

Hermione looked at him in panic and said, "What are you doing? Don't you dare press that button! Give me back my phone this instant!'

Alex leapt to his feet and held his arm high in the air, out of the reach of a currently extremely frantic Hermione who was jumping in desperation, as he tried to achieve the objective he had since he first gave her the canned drink.

Draco walked into Pandora, with a daily Prophet in his hand. Sipping a cup of coffee, he strolled in lazily as his employees quickly bowed in respect when he walked past them. Not acknowledging them, he continued walking on. Pandora was a Malfoy company, although it did not have their family name on the brand. As a result, not many people knew that Draco was the CEO of two companies.

All of a sudden, a small, petite lady came hurtling out of nowhere and slammed into Draco, making him spill his coffee over his shoes. Annoyance welled up inside him as he glared at her, realizing that she was his employee from her Pandora uniform. As she looked up, Draco noted that she was extremely pretty. She looked like the kind of girl he normally went out with, the belle of the ball. However, much to his surprise, he realized that he wasn't interested and while normally he would have started flirting, he just stood there, regarding her coldly.

"I'm so sorry Sir! It was an accident!" she apologized profusely.

"What's your name?'

"Xander, sir."

"Alright Xander, you're fired."

Xander looked up at him in shock, "What? Please don't fire me sir!"

Draco was emotionless as he replied, "Move aside."

Xander lowered her head as she shuffled to the side, her fists clenched.

Not even bothering with a second glance at her, he walked off. He had a meeting to attend.

Draco yawned as he looked at his watch. This meeting with all the department heads was taking way too much of his time, he didn't want to sit here anymore.

The head of the events department continued boring Draco, "So this year, for the annual end of year lucky draw, we have a few suggestions as to what the prizes should be. For the third prize, we were thinking of a floating lamp to enable easy reading whenever and wherever you want. For the second prize, we suggest having an auto-clean broom and for the grand prize, perhaps the very latest model of quidditch brooms? These-"

Draco interrupted, "We have this lucky draw every year. What is going to make people want to spend more this year in order to win the grand prize? Every single year we have items as prizes, nobody wants that anymore. I suggest that for the grand prize, we arrange a romantic getaway with a star. Whichever star doesn't matter, just get someone popular."

There was a silence before a low murmuring as the head of departments started to contemplate and discuss Draco's words. He leaned back into his chair and looked pleased, he always came up with the best ideas of course. To his left, he knew that his deputy head, the one who ranked third in the company, was shooting daggers at him. This man, Michael, was about thirty years his senior and was constantly trying to take Draco's position in the company. Not that it was likely to happen. The only reason why Draco still kept him around was because Michael did most of the work for Draco when he was away bulk of the time. Suddenly, his cell phone started to buzz and he picked it up to look at who the caller was when his eyes widened. Excited, he gasped, "This is real right? I'm not hallucinating this?" Everyone at the table turned to stare at him, unable to believe what they were seeing. Draco Malfoy showing any kind of emotion other than annoyance, arrogance and disdain was unheard of. Walter frowned and looked slightly uncomfortable as he leaned forward and whispered, "I think it's real, sir."

Swiveling his chair around, Draco answered and cleared his throat, "Hello?"

On the other side, Alex was evidently happy that his call had gotten through and thrust the phone towards Hermione, saying, "What are you waiting for? Tell him to come."

Hermione glared at Alex before letting out a grumble of frustration, "Hello. This is Granger. Come straight away, right now. You can't just skip training. Since you auditioned and got in, you are just a rookie so you better get your ass down here. Don't be complacent, everyone has to build up their fitness so don't think that you're more special than anyone else. You better come while I'm still asking nicely, or your fifth vertebrae will become your sixth." Hermione pursed her lip as she hung up and stormed off, leaving Alex to look pleased all by himself.

Draco was slightly stunned as he momentarily forgot where he was and said, "Hello? Hello? What the hell? I didn't even get to say anything." The room was now deadly silent as they looked at this scene, trying to imprint every single detail into their minds since they would probably never get to witness anything so historic again. Walter asked hesitatingly, "Who was it sir?"

Draco swiveled back, still looking at his phone, and snapped. "Who else do you think it is? It's the same person who has been driving me crazy!" He stopped as he realized that everyone was wide eyed with their mouths agape, unable to believe what they saw. Clearing his throat, he put his phone down and tried to salvage whatever reputation he can, "I hope you don't have anyone like that in your life. By the way….. Is there anyone here who knows where the fifth vertebrae is?"

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Looks like Draco is finally starting to invade Hermione's mind too... But just as a warning, no road to love was ever going to be easy. Review please! ^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**HappyCup: I totally agree. Haha I'm glad you like the way I've molded Hermione's personality. I wanted to try something different from most fics, which is why I don't concentrate the story solely around Draco and Hermione, although they are the mains. With more people in it, it makes the story more whole I think.**

**Tessa Cresswell: Haha yes he isn't, his mind is behaving on its own accord and driving him totally insane! **

**Miu Mi: Congrats, you were right! (Y)**

* * *

Ginny walked through the broadcasting station, looking proudly at the new drama series she had just completed. It was going to be a hit; she had a good feeling about this one. All around her people were frantically pulling images out of pensieves and editing them, cutting out the unwanted scenes. They had about another hour before it was due to be on air, and it would run through this huge broadcasting pensieve they had that was connected to the special pensieves people bought to watch the programs. Ginny was about to tell her producer that she was cutting out the wrong section when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Miss Weasley? This is Jane. We have a new assignment for you, quite a big one. It's a singer's first music video and he's going to show his face for the first time, you know, that unknown singer?"

"Oh? Hmm, this music video has to outdo the previous ones I've done then. Who's the mystery singer?"

"You might know him, he went to Hogwarts with you. You can't disclose anything about his identity until the music video is aired though."

Ginny's heart started beating faster as she asked as calmly as she could, "Who… Who is it?"

_Please, oh please, please don't be_…

"Blaise Zabini. Do you know him?"

Ginny's heart dropped. It was him. She would see him again. Elation and dread filled her, fighting to take the top spot as the dominant emotion. Ginny had half a mind to reject this assignment when her mother's words rang through her head, "You need to move on." It had been too long, perhaps seeing him again would remind both of them that they had grown up and the past was behind them, perhaps they could be friends again.

Ginny took a deep breath, "No, I didn't know him personally. Tell his manager to contact me directly so that we can sort out the details and-"

She stopped as she saw someone walk through the door. Life was cruel. She hadn't seen him for ten years, and now, immediately after hearing that she was going to be working with him, she wasn't given any time to prepare her heart for meeting him once again. Blaise walked in, still every bit as handsome as she remembered, and she felt as though her world was about to start spinning.

"Keep calm, Ginny. Play it sophisticated and cool. He's moved on with his life, don't let him see any hint of weakness."

Blaise stopped in his tracks when he saw Ginny, a flicker of recognition in his eyes before his defenses crashed down and a mask of indifference slid onto his face. The two stood there for a moment, so brief that anyone walking past would not have noticed, yet they could feel the tension and unspoken words building up between them.

Finally Ginny broke the silence, "It's too late to avoid each other now I guess." She smiled as she took out a mirror and checked her reflection, smoothening her hair, "You look like you've lost a little bit of weight. Oh my, if I'd known that I was going to see you here, I would have made more of an effort."

Blaise looked at her coldly and said, "I thought you were overseas."

"Oh, I just got back. I fly around a lot to shoot movies, dramas, music videos, everything. Been meeting all sorts of different people, it's really interesting. Why are you here?"

"I want to check out the place where all my future videos will be aired."

An awkward silence fell between them as they ran out of pleasantries. Clearing her throat, Ginny put on her sunglasses coolly and said, 'Well I have to go. I'm sure that we'll have plenty of time to catch up later."

Blaise didn't reply as she brushed past him, his face totally emotionless, looking like the old Blaise she had once known, not the one that the entire world knew now.

As Ginny turned the corner, she leaned against the wall and took off her sunglasses, her heart twisting. Did he not feel anything at all? How could he look so indifferent, as though he had totally forgotten about her? It would have hurt less if he had at least shown some emotion, but now she felt like such a fool. He evidently didn't care about her anymore, his famous relationships had all been true after all. Blaise was no longer the man she once knew and loved.

Before she started sobbing, Ginny fled the building and apparated home, where she could cry all alone and no one would know.

* * *

Draco hurried out of Pandora after changing into comfortable training clothes. He told everyone that the meeting for the day was over because he had something more important to attend, and despite the long list of things they had yet to discuss, nobody had objected. Looked like his reputation hadn't entirely been tarnished by his slip up, thank goodness. That Hermione was going to be the death of him without her even knowing.

When he apparated to The Magical Creatures, he saw all the rookies heading out of the building to where a few portkeys were located. His interest piqued, he walked quietly behind them, so as to make sure that no one, especially Hermione, noticed him. He didn't have any intention to train of course, he had brains so that he wouldn't need to use brawn to make a living, but he wanted to see what training was like. Plus he had assumed that training generally took place inside their training centres, looks like everyone was going out for a field trip today. Just before the portkey left, Draco quickly reached in and put a finger on it, trying as hard as he could to maintain the connection and complete the flight. He didn't want to end up stranded in some unknown area.

When they landed, it was a mess. Because of the sheer number of about twenty rookies, it was a tangle of arms and legs as everyone tried to sort themselves out. Luckily Draco had been the last to touch the portkey so he landed on top of everyone. He slipped away quietly and hid behind a rather huge tree, surveying his surroundings. It looked like they were in front of some sort of memorial building. Strange, why were all of them here? Weren't they supposed to be fighting it out with some monsters or sprinting till their lungs gave out? With his curiosity heightened even further, he followed them in and as Hermione ordered everyone to line up in six rows, he went up to the second level and stood behind a pillar directly above them.

Everyone was quiet as they moved, in respect of the dead around them. It felt very solemn, as Hermione began to speak, "This person before us was Edward Ramson, one of our teammates who passed away two years ago. He was not only Director George's mentor, but a teacher to us all." She paused as the rookies' eyes were downcast, their bodies still. Hermione continued, "The work we do bring neither fortune nor fame. Though our seniors can offer advice and guidance, they cannot give us money and honor. To some, we merely do the dirty work they would never want to do, and to others, they pity us for having a job like this, so dirty and sweaty. But regardless, we love working with these creatures and they bring us a joy that others cannot comprehend. This knowledge is our one and only pride. We constantly risk disability and death, so if you are not sure whether this is the job for you, you can quit now. This is not a threat, but the truth I am giving." Their eyes still downcast, nobody moved as they stood quietly. Hermione smiled, "Lift your heads up high everyone, there is nothing to be ashamed of doing what we do, and keep the words of this senior in your heart."

Draco felt hollow and sick. He had been one of those people she had mentioned, people who looked down on their job. His heart ached as he realized what kind of a jerk he must have appeared to her. Hermione's work must have been extremely important to her, yet all he had done was shown disdain for it. But at the same time, he still wanted her to quit this job. He was worried, because like what she had said, all their lives were in danger. And at the moment, he couldn't bear the though of anything happening to her. He wanted to keep her out of harm's way, but he didn't know what to do. As everyone walked out of the memorial building, he stayed there, thinking and trying to sort things out, but feeling more confused than ever.

* * *

"Good job guys! The first training is always the toughest but you guys managed to get through it! For cool down, it's a hundred jumping jacks and-" Hermione stopped as she caught sight of Draco leaning on the wall at the doorway and frowned. Everyone followed her gaze and saw Draco, before looking back at Hermione curiously.

Draco strolled over as he smirked and gave a mock salute, "Reporting for duty, ma'am."

Hermione glared at him before barking, "Rookie, why are you so late? Go and join the others, I have no time to deal with you today. Anyway, as I was saying, a hundred jumping jacks and a hundred sit-ups. If anyone is slacking, you will start again from zero." Looking at Draco, she said, "In particular, everyone should keep an eye out for this one and make sure he doesn't slack off, otherwise you could be doing jumping jacks and sit-ups the entire night." With that, Hermione walked off and left Draco to deal with the recruits. She trusted all her rookies to do the right thing; she had personally selected all of them and knew that they had a good heart and moral values. She couldn't say the same for Draco though. Hopefully they would pummel him.

The rookies all turned to look at Draco suspiciously as they started with their jumping jacks and counted, "One, two, three, four-"

"Wait stop stop," Draco put one hand up as his other hand dug around for his wallet, "Gentlemen, today is your lucky day."

* * *

Hermione walked down the stairs, drying her hair with a towel and stopped when she saw Draco standing below, his arms crossed. She frowned as she tried to look beyond him into the room and asked, "What are you doing here? Where's everyone? I told them to keep an eye on you."

Draco said, "When women want to attract men, they wet their hair and make it smell like shampoo. I don't get it, you could have just washed your face, why wash your hair too?"

Hermione glared at him and commanded, "Move."

"No."

"I'm not going to ask nicely anymore. Move."

"Make me."

Hermione walked forward and kicked him in the shins as hard as she could, making him yelp and hop around, clutching his leg. She hurried past him and looked around at the empty room, "What? Where is everyone!"

Draco hobbled after her, still trying to soothe his leg, "I gave them enough money to drink themselves silly tonight. I thought we needed to spend more time together."

Hermione whirled around, "Have you gone crazy?" Honestly, men couldn't be trusted. Offer them free alcohol and they forget everything they're supposed to be doing.

Draco shrugged, "I admit, things have been a little strange for me lately."

"If things are strange, go to the hospital. Why do you keep coming here?"

"Because you are the cause. Yesterday you finally changed out of your bloody clothes, but I think today you will probably appear with wet hair."

"What?"

"Doesn't matter. Help me figure out if I'm really crazy. Just stand there until I say you can move."

"Are you sure you aren't already crazy?"

"I'm doing this so that I won't become so. Just answer my questions honestly. Do you have anything notably significant about you? Like perhaps a big stash of money hidden somewhere, or hopefully, own a company? Oh, or maybe, do you have anything that can be deemed as valuable in your possession? You know, something that would be able to justify you being good enough for me."

Hermione felt hurt, good enough for him? Gritting her teeth, she snarled, "You have medical insurance right?" Suddenly moving forward, she did a judo throw and slammed him onto the ground over her shoulder.

Draco was too surprised to react and groaned in pain as the wind was knocked out of him. He tried to stand up but Hermione did another judo throw and he hit the ground harder this time. Draco coughed and his back was seriously starting to hurt. He tried to breathe normally and assess where the pain was coming from, it seemed to be everywhere. Hermione glared at him, "Don't you dare to complain, this is just the beginning." She moved to pick him up again, but this time Draco was ready and he blocked her attack, countering it and instead managed to push her onto the ground, pinning her arms at the side with his and straddled over her to keep her from kicking him again. Hermione struggled against him and threatened, "You're dead when I get up."

Draco looked down and smirked, "You think I can't beat a girl? There's something I want to tell you so listen carefully-"

There was a commotion as the front door opened and Xander burst in, furious, "My president is a total crazy jerk! He just-" She stopped when she saw what was in front of her, jaw dropping slightly.

Hermione panicked and took the opportunity when Draco was distracted to roughly push him off and quickly stood up, "Why did you come here?"

"Oh, you weren't answering the phone so I thought that you were practicing… Am I intruding?"

"No, not at all. What happened?"

"I got fired today! Just because I came late and bumped into my president, he fired me! Such a meanie!"

"What? Fired?"

Xander continued her rant, and threw her box of belongings that she had collected from her office on to the ground. Draco looked at it and started slightly when he saw the Pandora uniform in it. Looking closer at Xander, he realized that she was the girl who had bumped into him earlier. Draco wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, clearly she didn't recognize him when he wore trainers and sweatpants.

Xander half shouted, "Seriously! How can he just do that! Total idiot with no kindness in him at all! I hate him!"

Draco looked at her and was about to protest when Hermione said incredulously, "How can he just fire someone like that? We need to do something about this! Didn't you say you were close to the president's secretary? Maybe he can try and salvage the situation."

Xander looked determined and said, "Whatever, I'm going to take revenge on him! I'm going to post that the president is gay on Pandora's company forum."

"Ga… Gay?" Draco choked out.

Xander looks at him, "Yeah, gay. I know he will totally hate that, but what can he do? He can't fire me again. But… Who are you?"

Hermione quickly replied, "You don't need to know. Wait for me, I'll lock up and we can leave. Do you know the secretary's address? We'll go and find him." She rushed up the stairs to get her items from the locker as Xander shouted behind her, "Don't bother. I'm telling you, I already tried everything."

Draco walked towards to Xander and said, "I was just about to introduce myself, I'm the person who has caused all your problems."

"What?"

"I'm the jerk you were talking about, the CEO of the shopping mall you just got fired from?"

Xander scoffed, "What are you talking about? So you're saying that you are the…" Her eyes widened as she recognized him and gasped, covering her mouth with both hands and swallowed visibly. Draco smirked, enjoying her discomfort and said coolly, "You were fired because you were late. You know that's against the rules. Plus you ran into me and spilled coffee all over my shoes, I didn't even charge you for them."

Xander looked obedient and bashful as she said, "Of course sir."

"Good. Anyway, Granger doesn't know that my family owns Pandora, and I'd like to keep it that way. You can have you job back, but I'm a petty person so I don't give out favors just like that."

"Sir?"

"You said that I was gay…."

"Oh! I'm sorry! I was out of my mind earlier, can't I take back what I said? You're classy, smooth, cool, handsome and sexy, how's that?"

Draco smiled, "Now, who would fire an employee like that?"

Xander let out a delighted laugh and agreed, "Precisely!"

"Let's go out for a meal. Convince Granger to come, she will never agree to anything I suggest."

Just then, Hermione came down and said, "Come on, let's go."

Xander hurriedly replied, "Oh, there's no need. Pandora just called, they said that I can have my job back. And you remember what I said about my president being gay? He's not like that, he definitely loves women. Let's go out for a meal together! All three of us!"

Hermione frowned and paused, "What? Why the sudden change? That doesn't really make sense."

"Oh, I don't know what's going on with them, but as long as I get my job back I'm happy! Come on let's go eat, I'm starving!"

Hermione eyed Draco, "Is he coming as well?"

He replied innocently, "Of course. I'm hungry too."

* * *

Draco stared at the roadside stall. It was a common shop that the average middle class ate at, but it was something he had never set foot in before. His parents had never even allowed him to look into it, saying that it was beneath them and they only ate the best. Xander and Hermione hurried in, talking excitedly about some girl stuff that he didn't really understand. Wrinkling his nose, he decided to risk getting some disease from entering this place and followed after them.

The two of them were happily eating and chatting away, leaving Draco to look at what they were eating and feel repulsed. Xander looked up at him, "Aren't you going to eat? It's delicious!"

Draco said sarcastically, "What exactly are you eating? I don't understand. Why is a pig a pig? Because of the meat. When you eat the skin all layered in oil, what are you eating?"

"You mean you've never eaten this before? You have to try it! Here, the intestines taste really good too."

Draco looked as though he was about to vomit, "I don't eat these kind of stuff. You freaks."

Since the pork shop wasn't far from their house, Xander and Hermione decided to walk home, which meant that Draco felt obliged once again to walk them home. He walked silently behind them, feeling slightly jealous of the bond Xander had with Hermione. When they reached their destination, Hermione just looked at Draco before walking in, not bothering to say bye. Xander shifted uncomfortably, and gave a nervous laugh, trying to cover for her friend, "Thank you for giving me my job back, and thank you for walking us home!"

"It's fine. I… I don't normally ask these things, but how much is the rent?"

"Oh, we have monthly rent, it's three hundred dollars but we split it."

"Oh. Alright, go in, goodnight."

Xander bowed, more out of habit than anything else and said cheerfully before heading, "Yes thank you. Have a safe trip home!"

Draco stepped back and studied their apartment building again. The cracks on the walls, the chipped paint, the whole dilapidated feel. And the rent had done nothing to help improve the situation. He turned away, unable to look at it anymore, muttering to himself, "You're crazy Draco, totally crazy."

* * *

The minute he got home, Draco headed to Blaise's house. They lived just next door, and that meant that they often intruded on each other, and Blaise was just like the brother he never had. Draco entered, only to find him lying on the couch, staring moodily at the ceiling, looking depressed.

"Hey, what's wrong with you today? Get up, I want to ask you something."

Blaise ignored him and continued staring at the ceiling.

Draco walked closer and nudged Blaise with his foot, "Come on, help me out here."

Blaise set up and growled, "Eurgh, I'm having a bad day today. I met someone I really never wanted to see again. What do you want?"

"Have you ever dated a woman who pays monthly rent?"

"What? You disturbed me just to ask that?"

"Yes or no?"

"You crazy person, of course I have!"

Draco looked at him in disbelief, slightly shocked, "Really?"

"What's the name of that model… Uh Stephanie or something, anyway, I met her in May. Oh and a news announcer as well. They paid about, seven or eight thousand a month?"

Draco looked disappointed, "Not that kind of rent… Something closer to three hundred dollars?"

"Ohh… You mean three hundred a night? Like those hotel rooms?"

"That's not what I mean!"

"Then tell me what you mean so that I can answer!"

Draco looked uncomfortable as he tried again, "You know those documentaries we've watched on poor people overseas… Those kind that have flies all over and children running about without shoes?"

Blaise looked thoughtful before saying, "Ahh… Are you talking about foreigners?"

Entirely frustrated now, Draco stormed off and shouted, "You are so annoying! Forget it!"

* * *

The next day, Draco arrived at The Magical Creatures around lunchtime and looked for Hermione. This time, he wasn't in his sweatpants and trainers. No, today he had a mission. He wore a suit, and looked very imposing once again. Clothes really did make a difference. He found her with the rookies, teaching them how to treat different wounds they could get from the creatures. Draco caught himself smiling unconsciously as he watched her, the way she talked so earnestly reminded him of the time when she wanted so desperately to answer every single question. Stepping into the room, he cleared his throat loudly and waited for her to notice him.

Hermione looked up and was startled to see him, before frowning again. Draco sighed, what he would give to just get her to stop frowning and smile at him for once.

"It's almost lunch time. I'm sure everyone must be ready, get every single person in this company, not just the rookies. Lunch is on me."

Hermione glared, "Are you here to show everyone how rich you are again, Malfoy? We've already established that long ago."

Draco looked at her innocently, "I know. I wanted to bring you out, but I know that you would never agree, so if I treat the entire company, I'd have a better chance of you agreeing."

Suddenly, Alex appeared out of nowhere and said, "Money making guy! Lunch on you? Sounds great! I'll go get everyone, where are we going?"

"Pandora."

At that, there were whistles of appreciation and shouts of approval. The food at Pandora was top notch and many of them could only dream of eating there. Hermione looked frustrated, torn between wanting to taste the food as well and not going along with anything that Malfoy suggested. Why did Alex always appear at such times? It was too coincidental, but she could not do anything about it. Resigned, she sighed and gave in, "Alright guys, we'll continue when we get back. Lets go for lunch."

* * *

Once they reached Pandora, the guys were all ogling at the building, anticipation welling up inside them. Many of them had never bothered going into Pandora since they couldn't afford anything in there anywhere. Draco dragged Hermione to the front with him, and with encouragement from the rest of her team especially Alex, she went to walk beside him miserably. If only George was here, Hermione thought, he would never agree to this. Unfortunately, George was away at some meeting with some film director, and hadn't told them much about it yet.

When they entered the building, Hermione let herself marvel at the sight again. It didn't matter how many times she came here, it took her breath away all the time. Draco sauntered along, looking as though this building was nothing out of the ordinary. As they walked, Hermione noted with discomfort that all the employees were bowing at them. As far as she remembered, the employees here didn't do that. They only bowed when a customer entered their shop and were serving them. They did not come out of their shop to bow at people walking past. And then she noticed, that they were bowing to her, and not really to those behind her. Hermione was about to ask Draco why they were bowing to them when Draco announced, "Alright everyone, this is the restaurant that you'll have be having lunch in."

Hermione peered inside and saw that it was empty, her mind instantly whirling as she calculated how much it must have cost him to book the entire restaurant. She was just about to chide him when the restaurant manager came out and gave a deep bow, "Hello President Sir. The restaurant is ready, are these your guests?"

Hermione gaped a t Draco. Pres… President? What was this guy talking about? Wasn't Draco the CEO of Malfoy Enterprises? This was Pandora. Or… Was he the president of two huge companies? Hermione's mind was going into overdrive and her mouth was dry as she croaked, "You… You're the president of Pandora as well?"

Draco turned towards her and smiled, "Well, I did tell you that I was brilliant."

* * *

**This chapter is longer than the rest and I updated this super soon because I finally had some free time. Hope you liked it! Please review! ^^**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! IM SO SO SORRY THAT THIS UPDATE IS SO LATE BUT WORK HAS BEEN CRAZY. I'll try to update the next chapter within the next three days! Oh please check out my bio before reviewing so you'll understand what I write better :)**

**Bookz24: Haha what do you mean by swap? If you know what this story is premised on, please don't ruin it for the others!**

**Guest: Good things come to those who are patient :)**

**Playwright82: I'm not affirming anything about B/G, but I will say that you are pretty perceptive ;)**

**MissC: YES! I'm so glad to have found someone else who has watched it, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT.**

**Irondoors: Although this is mainly a Dramione, don't worry because there will be enough time allocated to them!**

**TessaCreswell: Haha yes I had to think quite hard about how to bring it in because they don't have elctricity! Ah yes you are right, but that's what makes him so adorable, like a little kid loving to be praised. B/G is gonna be more than meets the eye!**

* * *

Hermione was dumbounded. She didn't know what to think, what to say, or what to do. She felt terrible, accusing him of being lazy and rich only due to his parents, when in fact he did work hard. As two CEOs, his life couldn't be that easy. Alex saw her expression and quickly ushered her into the restaurant, before she started making a fuss and beginning the tirade of questions whenever she wanted to get to the bottom of anything.

He pulled Hermione into a seat next to him as everyone else was busy chatting and settling into different tables, evidently excited.

"Woah, he really wasn't kidding when he said that he makes a lot of money," Alex whispered.

Hermione didn't respond as she stared numbly at the table, her mind still trying to comprehend what exactly was going on. She didn't like to be wrong, it was such a foreign experience and did not settle well with her, and to be wrong about Malfoy just made everything worse.

"Hello? Hermione? What's wrong with you?"Alex nudged her shoulder and frowned.

Hermione turned to look at him, "You want to know something else? He's also the CEO of Malfoy Enterprises. His name is Draco Malfoy, and he's the boss of our next big assignment."

Alex let out a whistle and exclaimed, "Damm Hermione, you should just marry him already! Then pump some of his wealth into our facilities so that we can all stop being so poor."

Behind Draco, Walter walked up and said in a low voice, "Everything has been prepared and is ready, president sir."

Draco smiled and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, announcing, "I wanted to prepare a good meal for all of you, so I hope you enjoy it."

Everyone chorused, "Of course, this is awesome!"

Draco looked around him and paused when he saw who he was searching for, smiling as he said, "Then… While all of you are enjoying your meal…" He walked over to where Hermione was sitting and pulled her up, "Let me borrow this woman for awhile." Looking at her, he said, "You will have your meal with me, my office is on the tenth floor, let's go."

A chorus of teasing ooooohhhhs emerged from Hermione's colleagues, making her flush with embarrassment and obvious discomfort. She looked around and shook her head, extremely unwilling to go with him. Why did he always do these kind of things, she really did not like it. Draco just turned and dragged her along even as Hermione tried to shake him off and free her wrist. Resisting him, she hissed, "Wait a minute! What are you doing!" He ignored her and with the encouragement of all her colleagues, pulled her closer to him, forcing her on to a magical carpet and muttered, "My office."

* * *

Hermione's mouth hung open when she entered Draco's office. The first thing she noticed wasn't the extremely expensive décor, or how posh his office was, but the plethora of exquisite food that was on a long table. She would never ever have considered eating anything of that caliber, and could only feel jealous whenever she saw anyone eating something like that. Her eyes travelled along the table and her stomach grumbled, much to her embarrassment and Draco's amusement. It looked even better than what Hogwarts had pampered them with; there was lobster, foie gras, wagyu beef, shark fin's soup, and loads of other things she didn't even know the name of. There were also expensive looking candlesticks flickering quietly, and she couldn't help but feel that there was a slightly romantic feel to the mood he had created, making her all the more uncomfortable.

Draco said, "I wasn't sure what you liked so I asked your friend who works here. She said quantity over quality so I ordered a lot."

Hermione looked away and flushed, how could Xander tell him that! While it was true that after leaving Hogwarts and since she started having to feed herself all she wanted was to ensure that she was full, not being picky about the taste, but Xander shouldn't have told him that! It made her feel like cheap.

Draco smiled and gestured to the expensive leather chair that was made in Italy, "Sit down."

Hermione slowly walked over and was about to sit when Draco suddenly pulled it back slightly, causing her to quickly grasp one of the armrests and twist around, looking at him suspiciously. Seriously, after all these years he was still going to play that lame joke and watch her crash to the floor?

Draco looked a little puzzled, "I'm only pulling out your chair for you."

Hermione glared at him, "Forget it. Do it for some other girl." Whirling back around and feeling even more out of her comfort zone, she pulled her chair in roughly, not caring whether it would scratch his expensive floor or expensive chair.

Draco cocked his head to the side and frowned as he walked across to sit vis a vis her, "At your age, you still haven't had a guy pull out a chair for you?"

Hermione pursed her lips, absolutely unwilling to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right, and continued glaring at him, sorely tempted to put duct tape over his mouth so that he would stop annoying her.

She transferred her attention back to the table and scowled, "If you don't plan on praying, can I put out the candles?" Not waiting for his response, she picked up her spoon and reached over, extinguishing the flames.

Draco's eyes widened slightly and retorted, "During meals, it's perfectly normal to have candles."

"For me, three beers and fruit are the normal thing, not all this fancy stuff. Why didn't you tell me?'

"What?"

"Did you just say what?"

"Ahh… That I'm the owner of this place?" Draco strikes a matchstick and reached over to relight the candles. "Are you astonished? I told you before that I'm not a bum despite your persistent belief, and that I don't live off my parents. You really shouldn't have shouted at me. To be honest, you're surprised and angry that for once you were wrong about me, right? You knew that I was rich, but I'm so much better than you thought. All of a sudden I look better, more handsome and taller than before, correct? Don't you feel kind of sorry?"

Hermione swallowed and gritted her teeth, but nodded her head slowly in resignation and looked down, feeling small and inferior all over again.

Draco was shocked, Hermione actually agreeing with him and submitting to something he had said? Unbelievable. "What is this…? You agreeing so easily makes me feel embarrassed."

Hermione replied quietly, "You told me that when I'm angry I look pretty, so I won't be angry anymore. And you as well, don't do anything like this ever again. Also, stop coming to The Magical Creatures, it is not a place where someone like you can come just to kill time."

Not bothering to hear his response, Hermione quickly walked out, leaving Draco staring at his candles, speechless.

* * *

Hermione returned to the restaurant before where everyone else had been eating, hoping that she could catch them before the meal ended. Honestly, she was starving and it had taken all her willpower not to grab whatever had been on the table and start stuffing her face. However, to her dismay, they had all left and the staff were already cleaning up. Hermione collapsed onto a nearby chair and stared ahead blankly, feeling drained, as she always did after every encounter with Draco. A waitress walked up to her and bowed slightly, "Excuse me, sorry for this mess but we are still clearing up from the last big group of customers we had, could you please move to the other empty table over there while we pack this one up?"

Hermione replied, "Oh don't worry, I was with those people. Please give me a bowl of rice." Suddenly, behind her Draco said, "Don't give it to her."

Hermione sighed, "It's alright, give it to me."

Draco walked over to them and said to the staff, "You don't have to worry about her, get back to work." The waitress was a little unsure of what was happening but she learnt to recognize when her President was in a foul mood, and in these instances it was better to obey him, so she bowed and backed away.

Hermione didn't even bother looking at him and picked up a half-eaten bowl of rice, hunger taking first priority. Draco's jaw was clenched as he reached over and grabbed the spoon out of her grasp, flinging it to the side and the entire restaurant was silent as it hit the ground with a loud clang. The staff had all frozen, watching them uncertainly and wondering who Hermione was to have made their President so angry.

Draco asked, "What are you doing in this restaurant again? This whole situation is absurd and I don't understand it, so please help me to understand."

Hermione looked up at him, "For me, a comfortable meal is a simple one just like this."

"Back in my office, what made you uncomfortable? The candles? The wine? Me pulling out your chair for you?"

"All of them,' she reached into her pocket and pulled out forty dollars, slamming it onto the table. "Here, that's all I have on me, forty dollars for the meal. I know it's more expensive than that but since I haven't eaten a bite, let's just call it even. Now we should have nothing else to do with each other." Tired of arguing, Hermione started to leave but stopped when Draco started shouting from behind, "You are really going too far this time. All I wanted was for you to eat well and take care of your health because I know you probably eat unhealthy cheap stuff. I wanted you to have sufficient energy before returning back to work since what you do is so vigorous. I know you can't afford a meal a meal like that, so I was trying to be nice to you; I went through all that trouble of organizing and planning, just for you."

Draco paused, his voice strained and his fists clenched, feeling his heart twist and his voice crack, "I've never done half as much for any other woman before." Closing his eyes for a moment, he wondered why he was so affected by this. It was not the first time he had faced rejection, yet what she was doing hurt more than anything else ever had.

Hermione turned around slowly and said evenly, "I don't want any special treatment. I want to live happily and simply, earning and deserving everything I receive. I survive like this. Do you think this world is a fairytale? Do you think flowers, wine and candles are all set on tables everywhere? I do not need an immature son of a disgustingly rich family and owner of the largest department store treating me with such generosity. This is the last warning; don't ever show up in front of me again." She turned back and quickly walked off before he could formulate a response. Draco's heart dropped as he watched her walking off, this was not the way it was supposed to be. He looked down at the table, staring at the four ten dollar bills she had left behind.

* * *

Back at The Magical Creatures, there was a very excited Alex telling George about everything that had happened.

George frowned and said, "What?"

Alex's nodded enthusiastically, "It's really unbelievable right? Mister 'I earn a lot of money' is the president of Pandora, and also Malfoy Enterprises! He's our boss for the next assignment, I wonder if he came down to the audition to test us."

"President of Pandora?"

"Yes! He bought everybody who was working today lunch and it was SO good. He's totally fallen for Hermione, it's really no joke."

Just then, Hermione rushed into the office, panting slightly, "Sorry I'm late!"

Alex asked, "Hey did you really not know that Mister 'I'm good at earning money' is the president of that place?"

Hermione looked at George who was flipping through a file, his posture rigid and a muscle twitched at his temple. She swallowed nervously and worried about his expression, he really did not look happy at all.

Alex continued, "Wow you've seriously hit the lottery this time, are you going to quit your job here now?"

Hermione protested strongly, "Why should I quit?! He has absolutely nothing to do with me!" Unable to take all of this at the moment, she turned around and was about to storm off when her bag strap snapped at the buckle and fell to the floor, stopping Hermione in her tracks as she stiffened, grimacing. George and Alex both looked at the bag on the floor and Alex gently chided, "You should just buy a new one. How much does it usually cost anyway?"

Mortified, Hermione quickly grabbed her bag off the floor and ran out of the office. George looked at her silently, wanting to say something but unable to and he closed his eyes in worry, angry with himself for not being able to comfort her or have the means to do grand gestures as Draco did. Sighing, he walked out to their rock-climbing wall and set himself up, ensuring that all the ropes and catches were securely fastened. Since not many people used the rock-climbing wall, he usually did it on his own and had no one to belay him. Trying to sweat out his frustration, George climbed higher, where the wall got more challenging. He felt every muscle in his body working as he strained to reach the top, but no matter how much he tried, he could not get the scene he had seen of Draco and Hermione from his office out of his mind. The way Draco had pulled down her jacket just like that, the fact that she let him and was clearly affected by what he did, everything kept running through his head. Gritting his teeth, he tried to push the images out of his mind as he reached up for the next handle, but his lost his footing and slipped, crashing down, only to be saved by the ropes he had fastened earlier. Entirely frustrated now, he let out a yell and looked at the ground, exhausted.

* * *

Blaise smiled brilliantly as he posed for the camera, with three sexy models all over him. This was for his new album cover, where he was going to make an appearance for the first time. He intended for it to be big and glamorous, after all, he was the talk of the town now. Everyone was wondering who he was and when his next album would be released so that they would finally know the identity of the mystery singer who had captured many women's hearts. Of course, all the models and photographers, everyone who knew of his identity before the release of his album had been bound to secrecy. Should they try to expose Blaise in any way possible, they would find themselves suddenly unable to talk and develop a horrid fever that would not go away until the album was released.

After numerous shots, Blaise grabbed a cup of coffee and went to the head photographer, Mr. Kendell, to discuss the photos and which ones they would use.

Mr. Kendell went through the pictures and nodded as he pointed to one of them, "Hey this one isn't bad, but we should change the light and make the photo slightly darker."

Blaise continued clicking through the photos as he casually replied, "Is that even possible? As you can tell, I'm the one that's shining bright; changing the lighting won't make the photo darker."

Mr. Kendell shot him a dark look and was about to make a sarcastic comment when he remembered something, "Oh, I saw Director Weasley yesterday."

Blaise replied distractedly, "Director who?"

"Ginny Weasley! She's back, did you know? You guys both went to Hogwarts together, do you know her personally? I would love to get to know her!"

Blaise's expression turned cold as he put down his coffee, saying stonily, "Are we going to take any more pictures or not?" He stood up and walked away, changing the whole atmosphere so abruptly that Mr. Kendell felt very confused and wondered if he had said something wrong.

After the photo shoot, Blaise sat in his dressing room and brooded, his hand supporting his head as he sighed. Too many thoughts of her had been running through his mind ever since she came back and her name seemed to keep coming up in conversations. Everyone talked about Ginny Weasley, the girl who made it so big when she came from a family of poor nobodies. He hated the way they idolized and loved her so easily, they didn't know the real Ginny, the one who had taken his heart and crushed it brutally in front of him.

His phone buzzed and he picked up indifferently, "Hello?"

It was his manager, James, "Hey… I'm at Pandora right now and there's this strange thing hanging here… I'll send you a picture, so take a look at it."

Blaise frowned, not in the mood for any scandals or stuff like that, "What is it? Hello? Hey! Ah… He hung up already, so annoying." Honestly, why were they always trying to make scandals about him… Everyone knew by now he was a playboy and he changed women too fast for them to keep track anyway. Although broadcasting his scandal at Pandora was a little strange… When a message came in, Blaise looked at it disinterestedly, before his eyes widened in shock as he leapt to his feet and exclaimed, "What is this!" Furious, he ran out of the filming studio and apparated back home. Draco Malfoy had some explaining to do.

* * *

**Man, Hermione and Draco just can't seem to get a break do they. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review! Everyone who follows the story, please review as well! ^^**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone, sorry for the delay but FFN has been giving my problems and work has been crazy o… I apologize! Anyway, here's the chapter! Hope you like it!**

* * *

Draco sat glumly on his couch as he stared at the four ten dollar bills. How had his plan gone so wrong? It had the opposite effect of what he had intended, and now the more he looked at her money, the more he wished he had a time turner to restart the entire day. He though that they would be able to make some progress but it seemed like their relationship was getting worse. One step forward, two steps back.

Suddenly, Blaise stormed into his house, absolutely furious and looked as though he was about to tear Draco up. "Hey you! Why didn't you answer any of my calls? Do you know how many times I've called?"

Draco replied indifferently, not looking up, "I don't. The person who called should know."

Blaise whipped out his phone and shoved it in front of Draco's face, showing him the image which had been sent to him, "What is this, explain it to me right now! A romantic getaway with BeeZee? How can there be a romantic getaway with me when I don't even know about it?"

Draco looked at him, bored, "You should fire your manger. It's been there for three days already."

"What? Three days?!"

"You're quite popular. So I decided to nominate you as the grand prize. It's been relatively successful, our sales have gone up I've heard."

"Did you think I would agree to this?"

"I know that you won't."

"Precisely, you know it very well, I won't do it. Even if I die, I won't do it. I definitely will never do it!"

Draco smirked, "Stop shouting. Don't worry, because eventually you will do it." He lifted up his leg and shooed Blaise away with his foot, "You can leave now."

Blaise yelled a few profanities at him and gave him the middle finger before stomping out and slamming the door behind him.

When Blaise got home, he was startled to find his manager sitting inside, glowering at him.

James yelled, "What is this romantic getaway thing about? Are you crazy? We are already so busy with the preparations for you new album and maiden appearance!"

Blaise gave a nervous laugh, "Ah yes… It somehow just turned out like this."

"Somehow turned out like this? What kind of reason is that?"

Blaise quickly put up his hands defensively and said, "I have an idea. Since this getaway is one week after the shooting of the MV, lets push back the shooting by a week so the dates overlap and I won't be able to go for this getaway rubbish. I don't want to go for it either!"

James looked at him incredulously, "Are you crazy? You want to delay the shooting by a week? The director has already made plans to go to France to scout the filming locations!"

Blaise pleaded with him, "Come on James… It's just for a week. Look, I'll even let you hit me, how about that?"

James looked sorely tempted to do so before standing up abruptly, letting his chair fall back, walking off and punching the wall beside him in frustration. He honestly didn't know what he had done to deserve such a difficult artist like Blaise.

* * *

That night, Draco paced up and down, unable to figure out what to do. He never had to work so hard to chase anyone before, they usually just fell for him and were all over him the minute he smiled. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and walked over to Blaise's house, hoping to get some advice on women since Blaise seemed to have a way with them. Just as he entered, he stopped short when he saw that Blaise had company. Another beautiful young lady, as usual.

Blaise put his arm around her and smiled, pulling her closer to him, "I've been curious from the start, how does it feel like to be more beautiful than a rose?"

The girl blushed and replied shyly, "What a liar! Do you really think that I'm prettier?"

Blaise asked in mock indignation, " Why won't you believe me?"

Draco was close to gagging at all the cheesy things Blaise was saying, so he quickly stepped out and cleared his throat, interrupting them, acting as though he had not heard anything at all. "Sorry for this intrusion, I have something to ask."

Blaise scowled, "I'm not going for that romantic vacation or whatever it is."

Draco sighed, "Didn't I tell you not to worry about it already? You'll be doing it anyway. What I want to ask isn't about that. Do you remember the house I told you about? The one that looks like the houses they show in poverty documentaries? Granger lives in that kind of house."

Blaise snapped, "These days you've been annoying me because every single time you open your mouth you only talk about her! Over lunch you tell me about her job, over dinner you tell me how your day with her went, will it ever stop?"

Draco frowned, "Just listen and help me out. Her language has gotten a lot worse than when we were in school and she's such a rough person now. Oh, sometimes, she even gets violent. Have you ever dated a woman like that?"

Blaise rolled his eyes, "I'm about to go crazy. Of course! My ex used to be like that! So what?"

Draco asked, "So perhaps, you got whacked by her as well? Have you ever liked it?"

"What?"

"Like you know, even if you get hit more, you can still bear it? Or even like it? That slightly strange feeling that makes you want something more?"

"Geez! And here I thought you were so cultured and proper! Always acting so high and mighty… Do you like being tied up as well? Do you use handcuffs and stuff like that?"

Draco was puzzled for a moment, before he realized what Blaise was insinuating and he scowled, "No, it's not like that! You can be so infuriating. And you're totally useless. Fine, just proceed with whatever you were about to do."

As he walked out, Draco suddenly smirked and called out, "I do believe your ex was wearing the exact same dressing gown as she is now, and I've heard the rose thing before." Laughing to himself, he left Blaise to handle a suddenly extremely unhappy woman. He definitely wouldn't be getting anything tonight.

* * *

The next day at work, Draco got a visit from someone. He stared at the person in front of him, before lifting an eyebrow and drawing himself up to his full height. George didn't back down, coolly looking back, leaving Draco feeling slightly impressed. But he guessed that when one dealt with dangerous creatures everyday, a civilized man wouldn't be so intimidating.

George started, "That suit looks better on you than the tracksuit."

Draco replied, "But that doesn't mean I don't look good in a tracksuit. Why are you here today?"

"I take it you're not happy to see me?"

"Are we in the sort of relationship which we would be happy to see each other?"

"I don't think we're in the kind of relationship that would warrant you treating me so rudely. Do you make all your guests stand around like this over here?"

"Aren't you going to leave soon?"

"It'll only be a minute. Let's sit down."

Draco scowled as he joined George on his couch and waited expectantly. George said, "I heard you treated all my employees to a meal. I thought that I should thank you."

"I didn't do it for some altruistic purpose, there's no need to thank me."

"Though I'm thankful for what you did, I hope it won't happen again."

Draco sighed, "How many times am I going to get scolded for buying them a meal just once? First Granger and now you. Do all magical creatures people usually get fired up when people treat them well? Or does the director teach them to be this way?"

"Are you going to keep coming to The Magical Creatures?"

"There's no reason not to go."

"Our employees are pretty tough by nature."

"I'm not that soft either. In fact, I have a six pack. So why don't you stop trying to play 'director' with me and forcing me to do things that I don't want to? It won't work."

"There seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm not trying to bully you into anything, but I'm warning you. Hermione has a lot of talent and she's doing what she does very well. So don't hinder her."

"Sure. But I'm planning on helping her as well, so don't you interfere with that."

George and Draco stared at each other with hostility, implications behind their seemingly polite words. It seemed like an eternity before George stood up and walked out of the office, animosity thick in the air, his back rigid. Draco narrowed his eyes, hating the way George was so protective of Hermione. Suddenly not in the mood to do work anymore, he apparated home.

* * *

Back home, Draco stared at the four ten dollar bills again. It seemed that was all he could look at whenever he was home. They lay there innocently, yet they were driving him out of his mind. He frowned at the bills, pacing up and down, it seemed this was his daily routine now. Finally, he took out his phone and called his psychiatrist, Olivia, who worked at St Olie. Hardly anyone knew about his condition, and the Malfoys did their best to keep it secret, they couldn't show weakness to anyone of course.

"Hello? Olivia? Remember that day I came over with a woman and she had to get her arm stitched up? Can you send me a receipt?"

Olivia scoffed, "What? Do you think I studied to be a Healer for five years, and then took another five to specialize in psychiatry, becoming one of the pioneers in the wizarding world, just to get a receipt for you? You must have called the wrong number, contact the administrative office."

"Wait! Please do it for me."

"Why? You said that you weren't even close to her."

"It's because I'm not close to her that's why I'm asking you to do this for me. I'm at home, so send it to me with express delivery service. Get your hospital's fastest owl."

"Am I your secretary? I'm going to be at the hospital in ten minutes, so the person who needs it should come and get it." With that, Olivia hung up, but she smiled at her phone and said, "He's in love."

* * *

Hermione hummed as she bounced along to her lockers to put her stuff down, yet another day of training the rookies. Most of them were actually making good progress and she was pleased with their performance. Sensing someone's presence to her left, she smiled as she realized it was one of the rookies probably asking her what they were supposed to do next. Hermione put on a strict face as she continued arranging her stuff in her locker, saying, "Are you slacking off? Tell everyone to do one hundred tuck jumps and- Oh my goodness!" Startled when she turned around to see Draco, she stumbled backwards slightly and her hand unconsciously coming up to her chest.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to be cute? Why are you so surprised? Did you see a ghost or something?"

Hermione snapped, "Did you think what I said was a joke? I told you to never appear in front of me again."

"Why are you overreacting? I didn't come here to see you, I came to get money. Haven't you heard before that the rich are obsessed with money?" He took out a bill and waved it in front of Hermione's face, "Here, it came out to be $45 dollars because I got a huge discount, for reasons I will not disclose. You didn't even eat one bite of the food so I won't take any money for that. I'm precise about things like that. But you still owe me five dollars." Hermione pursed her lips and took out her wallet, dismayed to find that she only had three dollars on her. She held it out and looked away, "I'll give you two dollars later."

Draco tilted his head, "Later when?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes and said defensively, "When I go home."

"I've already told you that I'm not as free as you thought I was. I don't bum around living off my parents' money; I have to take care of two companies. Give it to me right now. I'm not asking for two thousand or twenty thousand, it's just two dollars."

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Hermione threw her wallet into her locker and snapped, "Then try and take the money from me on your own if you can find it." She slapped the three dollars into his hand and walked out of the office, not caring about what he did.

Draco turned around and shouted behind her, "Where are you going? Give me what you owe!" He turned back and frowned, "She didn't even closer her locker…"

Curiosity took over and he walked towards her locker slowly, examining the contents. There wasn't really anything of value to him in it, but it was neat and clean, just what he would expect of Granger. He looked around more and saw a picture of her with an older man, which he presumed was her father. Draco frowned as he realized that this was the first time he had seen a muggle photo, it was strange that they didn't move. His gaze trailed downwards and he saw another picture of her by herself, back when she still had her trademark long bushy hair. Smiling, he took out his cellphone and quickly snapped a shot of both photos, before gently closing the locker and heading down to where training was taking place.

* * *

"Alright guys take a quick sip of water and get into pairs, we're doing sit-ups next!" Hermione commanded.

"Yes ma'am!" the rookies chorused as they ran to their water bottles before forming pairs and sitting on the mattresses. Draco hurried over and sat at the side, on a separate mattress and looked at Hermione expectantly.

She glared at him and asked, "What are you doing?"

Draco looked up innocently, "Don't you know what I'm doing? It's sit-ups."

Hermione rolled her eyes, telling everyone to get into position and she blew her whistle, signaling the start, ignoring the strange looks the recruits were giving her. Draco rolled over to his side and asked, "What should I do? I don't have a partner. Why are you discriminating against me? I need someone to hold my feet too. Treat me equally like everyone else. If you're not pleased, hurry up and pay me back."

Hermione looked like she was about to retort but thought the better of it and grit her teeth, putting her knees on his feet and her hands around his calves as she leaned on his shins and continued glaring at him. Draco started doing his sit-ups, but only such that his head was lifted and his shoulders barely off the ground.

Hermione snapped, "Are you exercising your neck? Aren't you going to do it properly? Or is it that you can't?"

Draco smirked, "You'll regret it if I do it properly."

Hermione just rolled her eyes and snorted in disbelief.

Just then, Draco's face was too close to hers and her mind was going into paralysis. Draco gave a small smile as he continued doing his sit-ups excessively well. He came up all the way such that his body was leaning against his thighs and his face a few inches away from hers. Hermione looked away in discomfort; suddenly away of their proximity and the way she was pressed against his legs. Draco stared at her intently every time he came up, and Hermione found it difficult to tell him to stop. He continued his sit-ups leisurely, each time trying to get closer, and closer. Draco's eyes travelled all over her face, before landing on her lips. Hermione couldn't help but notice where he was staring and she bit it subconsciously, making Draco want to kiss it, and he almost did before he caught himself in time. He was sure she wouldn't appreciate him attacking her in front of all the recruits. Draco came up again, resting his arms on his knees and touched his forehead to hers. Hermione's gaze shot up at the contact and their eyes met, neither willing to break away.

Draco smiled, "I don't remember you being so pretty Granger, when did you start looking like that? Last year?" Hermione's brain was working sufficiently for her to recognize the snide comment hiding behind his words and memories of him teasing her about her teeth and looks surfaced, breaking the trance. Hermione pushed him away harshly and got up, humiliated.

Draco looked up and asked, "Why did you get up? I was just playing around."

Hermione grit her teeth and kicked his leg, hard. Draco let out a yell of pain and instantly fell to his side, clutching his leg. Hermione all but shouted, "What? Does it hurt? I was playing around too." Walking off, she suddenly remembered the rookies and called out, "Ten minutes break. Leave me alone." Draco tried to get up as he held his leg and hobbled after her yelling, "Stop right there! I might not have done anything the previous time but I'm really not going to let you go this time."

Hermione ignored him and went to the rooftop, grabbing a bottle of water along her way. She needed to cool off. Excitement followed by anger wasn't a good combination, it was inhibiting her calm, rational, logical sense and she didn't know what she would do. On the rooftop, she drank deeply, trying to calm herself down as she wiped her mouth and clenched her fists. "Deep breaths Hermione, deep breaths." She told herself. Draco had followed her up on to the rooftop, although he was still hobbling, Hermione noted with satisfaction.

Draco stopped a few feet away from her and scowled, "I'm really angry right now."

Hermione replied, "Do I look happy to you? I'm about to blow my fricking top right now."

Draco frowned, "There you go again. Are you some kind of convertible? Or a rice cooker? Why do you use such unsophisticated words?"

"I said that as nicely as I could, since you're some big shot CEO. I could say things that sound even worse, but you hate that don't you. Since you don't like my choice of language, why do you keep hanging around me? Why do you keep appearing? Why are you doing this? Do you like me, by any chance?"

Draco didn't reply, just continued looking at her.

Hermione snapped, "I'm asking if you like me!"

Draco replied coolly, "Do I seem like that much of a mad man? Do you think that I'm crazy? Have you ever seen someone like me, with all the power wealth and status, every like a woman like you? Do you think that makes any sense realistically? I think you've misunderstood. If I stacked all the pictures of the women with wealth, good family background and looks, who are willing to marry me. It would be as tall as a building. But with your family, job, wealth and age, you don't have a single thing going for you. If by any chance you are passably endowed in any of these areas, please raise your hand."

Hermione stared venomously at him, unable to make a comeback because what he said was actually correct, compared to him she was nothing.

Draco continued, "See? You can't raise it."

"Then why are you following me around?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Who should I ask if not the person who keeps coming to find me?"

"You should ask yourself. What am I supposed to do, when you keep appearing in front of me? Whether I meet you or not, it always seems like I'm with you, so what am I supposed to do? Ten thousand year old tree, one hundred story building, cats and frogs- Every single night I have to do this. Do you know how desperate I have become? What have you done to me? Why are you doing this to me?"

Hermione frowned, "What? You're not making any sense."

Draco glared at her, "You hang up the phone whenever you feel like it. When I come to find you, you get angry. When I try to be nice and treat you to a meal, you get even angrier. What more, you actually hit me. You're a completely strange woman." Draco paused and looked down, before gazing back at her, his voice gentler, "But that's exactly the problem. You're so strange that… I find you puzzling and amazing." He paused again, gauging her reaction and afraid she would discover the intensity of what he felt, before saying softly, "So right now… I'm just a crazy man."

Hermione stared at him, shocked, her mind completely blank. All she could feel was the pounding of her heart in her ears and the constricting of her throat. She desperately wanted everything to slow down. Did Draco just admit that she was amazing? And he did he indirectly admit that he liked her? Draco Malfoy liked her?

Draco stepped back slightly and said, "I'm not coming back here anymore. I'll just leave, but make sure you give me the two dollars. I'll text you the address later, I'm going off now." He turned to leave, with Hermione staring at him once again, still unable to fully comprehend what had just happened, but there was a fuzzy feeling spreading all through her and she looked down, smiling, happier than she thought was possible from just hearing those words.

* * *

**Hey guys… I don't really know how to put this across but… Considering that I get close to nil reviews, I don't think anyone is actually reading the story so I'm seriously considering stopping it. Writing is a way to share with others but if no one reads then there isn't any point. This might be the last chapter of my barely started story. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Starflower1984: Haha you are too cute, I didn't stop! :)**

**Bianca the crazy slytherin: Thank you so much for your encouraging comment :) Yes it's true that I don't just make them fall in love like that because it doesn't make sense for two people who hated each other for so long to suddenly just have feelings. **

**Pantsoflove: Thank you! I don't think it's all that great though haha although I don't know how to make it better :/**

**Whatnameshoulditype: Thank you! The storyline is going to get a lot more interesting, I can guarantee that ;)**

**Spam3: Thank you! :)**

**ANEwrites: Haha you forbid it. Unfortunately, they aren't going to get a break any time soon… The more difficult the chase the sweeter the reward :) **

**Tessa Cresswell: Haha I don't know.. I see some stories which get a hundred reviews per chapter and I wonder what's wrong with my story, why is it so much worse than theirs :/**

**Beachlover11: Haha thank you! **

**BelleBelles: Haha Draco's pride doesn't allow him to have a straightforward confession. I do write for myself, it's just that when no one reviews I feel like no one's reading so there isn't any point in me writing since the story is already in my head.. Writing is to share that story with others? But if no one reads then it loses that meaning.**

**Angelica: Haha yes we are :) I don't know if you still read my story but that wasn't the last chapter!**

**Midnight: Haha thank you! :) I hope I will have enough encouragement to finish it.**

**Guest: Oops I'm sorry, slight oversight on my part. But because the story is halfway through I won't change it because it'll get confusing.. Sorry hope you understand :(**

**Playwright82: Haha thank you! You're nice, yes that would be awesome! I need some criticisms to tell me how to improve my writing! Every time after I finish a chapter I feel like something is missing and I don't like it, but I don't know how to make it better :/**

**Nathy Zavzik: Haha and the story is continuing now :) I do hope for more reviews though!**

**Love bleeds red: Ginny and Blaise are taking a backseat for awhile, but don't worry there will be plenty on them as well! Can't wait to write about them :) **

* * *

Hermione lied on the bed she and Xander shared, staring idly at the ceiling, a small smile playing on her lips as she thought about the day. She felt like a silly teenager all over again but she didn't care, it was nice to be a kid once in awhile. Picking up her phone again to check for new messages, she sighed for the umpteenth time when she saw that Draco still had not texted her. It was driving her insane. Hermione rolled onto her stomach and looked at Xander who was sitting in front of a mirror and dolling herself up. Hermione made a face, why couldn't she look like Xander or know all about fashion and girls things the way Xander did.

"Where are you going tonight?" Hermione asked.

Xander turned, "A blind date!" She adjusted a scarf around her neck and smiled, "So what do you think of this? Super cute right?"

Hermione frowned, "Won't your neck get hot and sweaty?"

Xander shook her head, "Hey men like it even more when you cover up suggestively! Makes their hands itch and want to take something off. Alright I'm going first! Don't wait up for me."

Hermione called out after her, "Don't drink too much!" She rolled back onto her back and sighed, biting her lip unconsciously. Just then, her phone rang, "You have a new message! You have a new message!" Hermione mimicked it out of habit, before realizing that the message was probably from Draco and she scrambled to reach for her phone, eagerly opening her inbox. She stared it for a moment, before leaping off her bed to change.

* * *

Hermione apparated to the address he texted her and frowned. She had known that it was a fancy club, but now that she was actually here, she didn't want to go in. Hermione was sure that it would be full of rich snobs and the last thing she wanted was to face them. She just didn't belong in this kind of place. Biting her lip, she headed in, keeping her head low and tried to avoid the stares that people around her were giving. Hermione fidgeted with the scarf around her neck, Xander had better be right about this, her neck was starting to itch.

Walking further in, Hermione tried to fight off the feeling of self-consciousness with all the purebloods glaring and sneering at her. Why did Draco have to choose this sort of place, couldn't he pick somewhere that was closer to her comfort zone? Hermione looked around desperately, and heard a few women whispering excitedly behind her, "Isn't that Draco Malfoy? Ohmygoodness he looks even more handsome up close, plus he's one of the richest young bachelors around!" Hermione followed their gaze and saw him sitting in a corner booth, looking at his drink and she smiled with a mixture of relief and pride. All these pureblood women couldn't get the attention of Draco, but she could. He had chosen her out of everyone.

Sliding into the booth and sitting across him, Hermione cleared her throat and asked, "Isn't this too fancy a place just for me to hand over two dollars?"

Draco looked up at her and frowned, "Did you hurt your throat or your neck? Do you need that thing to stop some sort of bleeding?"

Hermione blushed and quickly untied the scarf, stuffing it into her bag, She shouldn't have listened to Xander. Taking off her sling bag, she put it onto the table and said, "I'm going to the restroom."

Draco watched her go, smiling to himself before looking back at his drink after he had lost sight of her in the sea of people. His gaze wandered and he saw her bag. The smile faded from his face as he looked closer at it, seeing that her bag was held together by safety pins. It looked old and terribly worn out, used way longer than any bag should have been, the kind of bag that he would have thrown away long ago, or given it to a beggar on the street.

Hermione returned and sat down, looking at him nervously as she said, "I don't know what kind of alcohol you like, but I can buy you a few beers…. Since there are some things that I feel bad about."

Draco looked at her stonily, his eyes angry.

Hermione was taken aback, "You don't like beer?"

Draco replied curtly, "I think you are the first woman I haven't been able to handle since I was born. Not thinking about whether a woman's good family background will be helpful for my businesses or whether a woman's genes will be good enough for my child, but instead how much a bag like that will cost. It's the first time I have to think about something like that. Everyone else would have bags that could feed a family for years, and I would be considering how beneficial they would be in terms of status of wealth. But for you, I have to think about how much a garbage bag like that could actually be worth."

Hermione was puzzled for a moment before she froze as she realized that he had seen the safety pins on her bag, the one with the buckle that had snapped in George's office, the one she still had to use because she could not afford a new one. Mortified, she snatched it off and table and looked away, her cheeks flaming with shame.

Draco continued coldly, "If you had had any respect for me, you would have paid more attention to your appearance, at least once. You should know that I'm a public figure with my family, wealth and status, and already by meeting you in public, many other purebloods will be looking down on me, couldn't you at least try to look as though you weren't born in a dump? I'm not the kind of guy that would actually make someone come all the way here just to give me two dollars. Don't you have any clothes I haven't seen before, or any decent bags that aren't torn and tattered?"

Hermione was on the verge of tears, unable to formulate a response. His words hurt more than anything else, and she felt so ashamed of herself again. It seemed that before Draco had come into her life, she was happy and proud of herself, but now he was always made her feel worthless.

Draco went on, with a steel edge to his voice, "Did you not have enough time to change? Was it just coincidental that I called you over when you were busy or did you not even have enough money for a bag? Answer me. Is it true that I've been excited all day about using two dollars as an excuse to meet a woman who can't even afford to buy one bag?"

Hermione clutched her bag tightly as she fought to keep calm, her voice wavering ever so slightly, "It seems that you are mistaken, but my intention of coming here was only this," She took out two dollars and slammed it onto the table before taking off, tears threatening to spill over. Draco stared at the two dollars on the table, a steel mask of indifference on his face, his expression unreadable.

* * *

As Hermione walked out of the club, her eyes were downcast, her mind buzzing and distracted. All she knew at the moment was that she hated Draco and never wanted to see him again. Walking forward, not really looking at where she was going, she bumped into someone and a pair of hands reached out to catch and steady her.

"Oh? Granger? Bumping into me again? Are you doing this on purpose?' Blaise teased, "Why are you here?"

At that moment, Draco walked out of the club, his face unmoving even when he caught sight of Blaise holding Hermione. Blaise caught Draco's eye and looked from Hermione to him, "Did you come here to meet Draco? Oh man, whenever he has that stone face on it means he's really angry."

Hermione swallowed and tried to push past Blaise, "I'm sorry, please excuse me."

Blaise caught her bag and said, "Hey wait a min-" Hermione's bag strap snapped again under the sudden force, the safety pins unable to hold it together. Hermione quickly grabbed it back, and she slowly lifted her gaze to meet Draco's. He looked scarier than ever, it would have been better if at least there was some anger showing, but it was emotionless, nothing.

Blaise joked, "I'm sorry, I guess since I exercise a lot and I'm muscular, I underestimated my strength."

Her eyes still on Draco, Hermione whispered, "No, it's not your fault."

"Oh! You fixed it with safety pins! That's a smart idea, but why didn't you just use a simple repairing charm?"

"I… Its… My bag's been too used, the repair charm doesn't work anymore. Every time my bag breaks, the charm gets less and less effective, and now holding it together with safety pins is better."

"Oh… That's unfortunate. But here, let me try to help you put the safety pins back properly and fix it."

"No, its alright… I'm fine…" Hermione's voice trailed off as Draco walked off, not bothering to look at them anymore.

Blaise called out, "Hey! Where are you going? Are you just leaving like that?" Looking down at Hermione, he noticed her staring in Draco's direction and he bit his lip, uncomfortable and unsure of what he should do. Sighing, he tapped her shoulder and gave a small smile, 'Do you want to take a walk with me?"

* * *

They walked along the road, past the small up market cafes under the city lights, in a somewhat comfortable silence. "Her eyes are so sad," Blaise noticed. He wanted to cheer her up, she looked like a kicked puppy. Nudging her, Blaise smiled, "Don't be so sad! He's the best in this entire world at saying hurtful things. Since he was born he's been annoying. But I'm really curious, you guys used to really hate each other in school, what kind of relationship do you two have now?"

"Well…. We're in the sort of relationship where we can see how each other truly feels through a bag. Are you and him close?"

Blaise laughed, "I'm sure you remember that at Hogwarts I only had him and Pansy as friends. I'm also the vice CEO of Malfoy Enterprises, so we're pretty much like brothers now. You want to know something? Every time he opens his mouth, it seems that he's always talking about you."

Hermione looked at Blaise, hating the sound of hope creeping into her voice, "Draco keeps… talking about me?"

Blaise nodded, "Yeah, he really drives me insane sometimes."

Hermione looked down and smiled softly, liking that notion. They continued walking in companionable silence and suddenly Blaise said, "Hey Granger can you keep a secret?

Hermione looked at him curiously, "Sure, what is it?"

Blaise smiled and whispered, "This might come as a shock but have you heard of BeeZee?"

"Of course, who hasn't?"

"Well, I'm him."

"What?"

"I'm BeeZee."

Hermione stopped at stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. Blaise was BeeZee?! But…. How could that be possible… BeeZee's music had been the only thing that had kept her going after the war, when she thought she had lost everyone. Totally overwhelmed, Hermione suddenly hugged Blaise tightly and whispered, "Thank you so much, you saved me."

Taken aback, Blaise awkwardly put his arms around her and patted her head, "Are you ok, Granger? I don't think I did anything to save you."

Tearing slightly, Hermione pulled back and smiled, "BeeZee's music did. I told myself that if I ever had the chance to meet him I had to make sure he knows how grateful I am to him."

Blaise laughed, "What are you talking about?'

"Before the final war… I sent my parents to Australia and modified their memories so they wouldn't remember me or the life they had before, just in case I didn't make it back alive. I'm not too sure why, but after the war when I tried to restore it, the memory never came back. Maybe it was because I never believed I would still be alive and performed too strong a charm, maybe it was because my parents were traumatized when I told them that they had to trust me and forget for a little while, maybe it was a mixture of both reasons, I don't know. But after I found out that I could no longer be my parents' daughter since they didn't know I existed, it crushed me. However at that time I still had Harry and Ron and the Order, they helped me numb the pain. It never entirely went away, but it was bearable. As time passed, since there was no more Voldermort, there was no purpose for the Order anymore and it ceased to exist. Everyone went their own way and even Harry and Ron didn't have time for me anymore… Five years after the war, my father passed away. I go back to the muggle world once in awhile to check on my parents. Standing from afar at my father's funeral, watching my mum cry, unable to be of any comfort to her, me not getting to say goodbye to my dad one last time…. I was a wreck. But now there wasn't anyone to help me. And then, I heard your songs for the first time. It was like, there was someone who understood me, someone who cared about me, even if I didn't know him. You helped me to pull through at a time when no one could, and no one tried. Thank you, you've done so much for me, and I don't think I will ever be able to repay you."

Blaise listened quietly, touched, "I'm glad my music helped you through. Honestly. I never knew that it would make such a difference to anyone. You know what Granger, maybe we could've actually been friends in school."

Hermione laughed, "Maybe, if you weren't so moody and depressed all the time, walking around like you hated the world."

"Well it was because no one wanted to talk to me that's why I was so depressed," Blaise teased.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Blaise!" They turned to see who it was and Hermione noted that a petite, rather attractive girl was walking towards them, grinning.

Blaise smiled, "Annabelle! What are you doing here?"

Annabelle laughed, "I was meeting my friend for dinner when I saw you. Is this your new girlfriend?"

Hermione was about to protest when Blaise suddenly pulled her close and teased, "Do we look good together?"

"You look good with any girl Blaise," Turning to Hermione, she smiled and extended her hand, "Hello, I'm Annabelle, what's your name?"

Slightly startled, Hermione shook it and said, "I'm Hermione Granger. And I'm not together with Zabini."

Annabelle looked at Blaise and smirked, "Not even on first name basis and already saying that she's yours? You've gotten worse Blaise."

Turning back to Hermione she asked, "Hermione Granger as in the girl of the Golden Trio who defeated The Dark Lord? Along with Potty and Weasel?"

Hermione frowned, those nicknames sounded awfully familiar.

Blaise quickly said, "She's Draco's cousin, on her mother's side. She's two years younger than us and attended school overseas so you probably wouldn't have seen her before. And well, she's really close to Draco, which is why she calls them Potty and Weasel also…"

Hermione nodded and looked at Annabelle who was still smiling. "Such a cheerful disposition, it's difficult to believe that she's related to the Malfoy or Black family, let alone be close to Draco," Hermione thought.

"Oh! I just remembered! Did anyone tell you, Draco's blind date failed again. I have no idea how many he's been on, but his mum told my mum that she really wants him to marry this latest one," Annabelle said excitedly,

Blaise snorted, "His blind dates hardly every work out because he doesn't do anything for them, he doesn't go out of his way to buy them anything or visit them, they always have to find him and girls don't like that. Who is it this time?"

Annabelle shrugged, "That's Draco. I'd like to see what kind of woman he would actually bother doing anything for, he must really like her a lot for him to do that." Hermione gaped at them; Draco never did anything for anyone before? Never even went to them? Then, why….?

Annabelle continued, "Anyway the girl this time is Ginny Weasley, sister of the weasel in the golden trio, both of you should know her right? What's she like? Why does aunt Narcissa want them to marry so badly?"

Blaise's face changed as his heart clenched, Ginny… Married to someone else… And it had to be Draco… He just couldn't entertain that thought. Why hadn't Draco told him… Well granted Draco usually didn't tell him about his blind dates and Blaise normally didn't care, but this was Ginny… Everything changed when it came to her. Hermione was shocked, "Ginny?! She went on a blind date with him? Why didn't she tell me anything?"

Blaise suddenly mumbled, "I have to go." And he walked off, his shoulders hunched, reminding Hermione very much of how she had been when she just walked out of the club. She stared after him, contemplating whether to chase after him and provide him comfort the way he had done for her, but decided against it. He probably wanted to be alone.

After bidding farewell to Annabelle, she walked home slowly to gather her thoughts. Today had been such a crazy day… Draco had sort of confessed to her, but after that he had gotten so angry that it scared her, and while her own anger had subsided, she still resented him and the way he always made her feel inferior. The last thing she wanted was to see him again. If possible, she hoped that after this incident he would stay away. It was just too embarrassing. And then she found out that Blaise was BeeZee, the singer who had provided her with so much strength to pull through, and whom she had a secret crush on. She had never thought that it would be Blaise. Yet, no matter how impossible it seemed, it was true. But right now, suddenly feeling exhausted, all she wanted to do was sleep.

* * *

Back home, both Blaise and Draco were out taking a walk, beer in hand, feeling depressed. At a crossroad, they met and stared. Blaise broke the silence, "Let's talk."

They sat out on Draco's porch, both thinking of how they should phrase their questions. They spoke out at the same time, "I have something to ask…"

Draco asked, "Did Granger get home ok?" while Blaise also asked at that same moment, "I heard you went on a blind date?" They glared at each other for a while, both annoyed that the other party was trying to talk when he was.

Draco frowned, "I always go out on blind dates, so what? Did you walk her home or did she go off on her own?"

"What was the woman you went on a blind date with like?"

"Did Granger mention me?"

"Annabelle told me that she dumped you… Is that true?"

"Did she mention me at least a little?"

"Did she really dump you?"

"Did she still keep that crappy bag? Even a paper bag would be better."

Blaise exploded, "Hey, are you going to marry someone with that kind of bloodline and status? No, right? Your mother and your pride would never allow it, so if you're just going to play around with her, don't bother worrying or asking about her, just play around. If you're going to get married through a blind date anyway, it shouldn't matter to you. And you haven't answered my question, I asked what was that girl like!"

Draco rolled his eyes, "You said you already heard that I got dumped, happy? Besides, it was Ginny Weasel, absolutely disgusting, mum must have gone insane. Of course the date was a disaster, never wanted to see another redhead from that family again. Let's just talk about Granger instead."

Blaise looked at him suspiciously, "What kind of dirt does she have on you that's got you behaving like this?"

Draco didn't reply. He got up slowly and said, "You tried to push back the filming of your music video by a week. Did you really think that James and I would let that happen? You're really like a child playing in a world of grown-ups. You're still going to France tomorrow to film, better get ready. And remember to pack more foundation cream, your face is starting to get wrinkly."

Blaise yelled, "What?! James that jerk! Eurgh Draco, I'm never going through with this stupid romantic getaway thing!" Looking down, Blaise suddenly had an idea and a slow smile spread across his face.

* * *

The next day, Blaise stood in front of his production team who were waiting for him, nervous as they knew that Blaise had wanted to push back the filming by a week and when Blaise did not get his way, he was scary. Blaise looked at everyone and smirked, "Change of plans. Everyone switch your phones off, you're my team so you listen to me."

* * *

Draco lounged on a chair, looking at the two pictures of Hermione he had taken with his phone. Sighing, he picked up a book and attempted to read but to no avail. He had ordered this book immediately after he met Granger again for the first time, it was titled "Understanding Poverty." He really couldn't understand what went on in her head, and he had never had to understand what the word 'poor' meant, but now he wished that he knew. Draco stood up and walked back to his bookshelf, putting the book back and leaned against it, so full with books that it would keep Hermione happy for days. Draco laughed bitterly at the irony of it, his bookshelf could keep her happy without doing anything, and yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.

No use in thinking about her again, it would be better to just go to work and try to get his mind off her. He had unfinished work with Pandora anyway, and even though today wasn't his work day, surprising them once in awhile would keep them on their toes. As he walked off, he didn't notice that one of his poem books lying on the table suddenly, silently, flipped open as though someone had magically opened it, and stopped at a certain page, where the poem read:

A sunny day suddenly means nothing.

Someone is walking into my heart.

I looked forward to where destiny is bringing us.

My fascinating, precious, woman, flew here by chance.

* * *

Hermione frowned at her phone and looked up at Xander, "Hey did you sign me up for some lucky draw at Pandora?"

Xander tilted her head, "No, I didn't. Why?"

"I just got a call from Pandora saying that I won the lucky draw, third prize. Did they make a mistake? You only win a lucky draw after you buy something from there… And there's no way I could have afforded it."

Xander snapped her fingers, "I thought you were supposed to be smart! If it's not you, and it's not me, who else could it be? My president of course! He must have wanted to surprise you! Ahh that's cute… Guess he can be sweet as well."

Hermione shook her head, "He wouldn't do that…." She contemplated for a moment before saying, "I'll go to Pandora to get it. Oh, by the way… Could you lend me the new bag you just bought?"

* * *

Draco walked through the doors of Pandora, enjoying the shell-shocked stares his employees were giving him as they scrambled to get themselves in order and bow to him. Walter ran over and almost slipped as he lost his footing and panted, "Why are you here? You don't come to work today."

Draco smirked and handed him a file, saying, "Tell this department to get the winter brochure ready by tomorrow, I want to check it and…." He trailed off as he saw Hermione walking inside, looking around with a slip of paper in her hand, evidently searching for something.

The anger and the worry he had felt yesterday all came rushing back. He stared coldly at her, waiting for her to notice him.

And she did. As though she felt the chill from his gaze, Hermione froze, her heart beating fast. She had hoped not to run into Draco today.

They just stood there, looking at each other, lost.

* * *

**Please review! I have decided to continue the story for the time being, but it's just that sometimes I feel like when no one is reading I've lost the point of writing.**


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